Children of the Fire
by Draton
Summary: What if our favorite Demon Vessel was adopted along with 2 others, how will things be different when he returns to Konoha? Find out! Naru/Ino, Anko/OC others. BE WARNED LOTS OF SWEARING
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic, the reason i am attempting it is I've just finished reading through the avai

A/N: This is my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic, the reason i am attempting it is I've just finished reading through the available manga series, and read a ton of fanfic, so needless to say I have ideas.

This fic will have one, probably two OC's that are fairly centric. I would ask reviewers not to flame them simply because they did not originate from Naruto. That said, comments, criticisms, flames, whatever are always welcome. Feedback, we use it to grow. Please, help me grow! (Says the 6'4 teen)

I have about.. Half of this fic planned out, outside of that I'm winging it. Soooo please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, if I did Sasuke would be dead, resurrected and killed again out of spite.

**Prologue:**

Jace let loose a long sigh as he slumped to the ground, exhausted. A rarity for the warrior. He glanced about the torn up battlefield. Dozens of dead littering grounds, many unique and varied ways of dieing. Had the young man not been raised in battle, the stench might have knocked him out. But he felt no pity or remorse for the numerous corpses. They shouldn't have gotten into the game of god if they weren't willing to pay the consequence. He looked back, casting grey eyes at the burning building. It had been his birth place, if you can call being artificially grown being born

The purple haired fighter was content for the moment, his hell of a birthplace finally burned to ground so that no child would have to grow up as him. A freak, a loner, a weapon. He mused softly to himself that in the end this place claimed everything he had. He looked over beside him at the weapon filled body of the only man he would call brother. The raven haired corpse had a grim, satisfied smile on its face. Jace groaned and got up, he was sad yes, but his greatest friend had died a true warrior's death. Dieing to save a friend, and taking out a whole fuck load of people in the process. Jace laughed as he got to his knees and picked up his friends only possession of worth, a 10 foot long sword, if you could call it that. The blade had long dulled itself on the blood of its foes, but that hadn't stopped its user from simply bludgeoning them to death instead. Jace reached into his vest pocket, and pulled out a blank scroll. Lightly biting his thumb he wrote out on the scroll and sealed the massive sword inside. His last link to his greatest friend.

With that last deed done he got up and turned away, turning his back on this chapter of life. A fitting funereal pyre. "Dray always said he didn't want to be buried..." Jace said softly to himself. "'Just leave me for the buzzards.' Well, here you go my friend, as you asked the vultures will have an unmatched buffet today..." He laughed as he wandered away towards the horizon.

-Two weeks later in the red-light district of small town in Rice country-

Jace grumbled, loudly. He was, in no small matter, bored stupid. He had quickly learned that driving force in his life had been his best friend. Without him there was nothing to do but simply wander around looking for a new direction in life.

"Hey, sweet cheeks, looking for a body to keep you warm?" Jace stopped at the sound of an uncomfortably masculine voice behind him. He slowly turned around to see the ugliest drag queen the world had ever known.

"...No thanks Ma'am, err, sir. Uh, whichever you... are..." And Jace had thought he had identity issues.

The man (or so Jace hoped, he really didn't want it possible for a woman to get so ugly in a dress) looked him up and down slowly, like he was eyeing a piece of steak. "You sure? I mean with how you're dressed..."

"Quite sure. Thanks for the offer." Jace said, being creeped out into overly politeness. _Wait, what's wrong with what I'm wearing!?_ He said to himself.

_**You have purple hair. You're wearing a dark purple sleeveless jacket. A leather one at that, a dark orange shirt, and black cargo pants. And you're wondering why people think you like men?**_

_Shut up fucking bird. I dress fine._ Jace said to his own inner demon. A rather powerful phoenix known as Raxxieal, not one of the famed Biju but more of an, as he called it, independent contractor... Of a demonic nature.

His inner monologue was broken off by a new sound. Shouts of swearing were following a small red haired girl, no more then 6 years old. She was covered in cuts and bruises, and her clothing was tattered. She clutched a flute tightly to her chest as she ran straight into the tall purple haired man. He reached out and caught her preventing her from falling over. A look of concern flashed in his eyes at the girls condition. "Hey there sweetie.. What's the matter?" He spoke gently, not wanting to scare her.

She looked at him tears welling in the corner of her eyes. "S-some men are chasing me. They killed Grandma cause she wouldn't be stay quiet. Whatever that means... She tried to get me to run but I couldn't leave without my flute! They grabbed me and started… D-doing things to me... I managed to get free and run after a while but they coming soon..." She looked behind Jace fighting the urge to make a run for it, not knowing if she could trust this grey eyed stranger.

Jace narrowed his eyes as he rubbed the top of her head whispering quietly to her as he saw a group of four thugs, yakuza he surmised from how they were dressed. A harsh glare flashed through his eyes as they drew closer. "Stay here little one.. I won't let them harm you... Or your flute." He said glancing at the object clutched in her tiny shaking hands.

The four yakuza thugs stopped a few feet away from Jace, "Give us the girl, we might let you have some fun with us." He said, in what Jace assumed was to be taken as a threatening manner. "Or you can die with her, that work for you queer?"

Jace smiled once at the small girl in front of him and stood up, lightly pushing her behind him. "Or option three; I can stab you all in the face." He grinned with closed eyes and bared teeth as he said that, absent mindedly spinning a kunai in his left hand.

"Why you, we're part of the Toshina family boys ge-" The leader of the group was cut off as Jace's kunai found itself buried in his left eye socket. The man gurgled and slumped to the ground, blood starting to form a small pool where his head landed. The three thugs behind him stepped back. Jace hadn't even looked like he had moved.

"Wha- what did you do to Boss?" One stammered out. Jace sighed lazily as he flicked another kunai out and started spinning it as well.

"It's called flash step. Moron." He grinning, "You should learn it. Could really save your life." The second kunai found itself buried between the man's eyes as he too slumped over dead. "Damn, to late."

He grinned and pulled out two more kunai, one for each hand. "So which one of you mother fucking child molesters wants to be face fucked by my blades first eh?" The two thugs recognizing a pattern did the only thing they were trained to do. Turned and ran. "Bah, shit faced cowards!" Jace said throwing the two kunai, severing each mans spinal cord at the base of the neck. He smiled at his handiwork and rubbed his hands together as if cleaning them off.

The little girl looked up at him as he turned back and smiled at her. Picking her up and resting her on his shoulders. "So little one, what's your name?"

She looked at him and removed on hand from her flute to toy with his purple hair. "..Tayuya... You're hairs a funny color."

Jace laughed as he snapped his fingers, the four kunai he used disappearing in a puff of smoke. "That it is... My name's Jace. I'm uh, guessing you don't have any parents?" He said softly as they turned and started walking to a more respectable area of town.

"No... Will you be my new Dad?" she said relaxing a bit.

Jace was slightly taken aback by the question. But he shrugged off the worries. _Well, I was looking for a new direction in life..._ "Sure. I'll make sure no one hurts you again." They both smiled as he reached up and patted her on the head.

-6 months later, in Konoha the Hidden Village of the Leaf-

"Fuck! Fuck shit!"

A little red haired girl cried out happily running through the shopping district of Konoha, her adopted father covering his face with his hand avoiding the horrified stares of passerby. As much as he had grown to love his adopted daughter, and all the cute little ways she had started to emulate him, picking up his particular penchant for language was not on his endearing list. "Umm, sweetie, remember adult words, don't use them in public." He asked politely. Deciding the best way to handle this would be to distracts his daughter. "Hey how about we get some food?"

She smiled happily and looked around; she paused and pointed at the store they were in front of. Ichiraku Ramen. Jace shrugged and went in. Tayuya smiled gleefully and ran in, spotting a young blonde boy eating alone at the counter. She immediately struck up a conversation. "Hi! My names Tayuya, what's yours?"

He looked up from his ramen, slightly surprised this girl had ran up to him and started talking to him. No one ever did that... He looked at her and grinned, "My names Naruto, the future Hokage!" He exclaimed proudly, holding out a peace sign. Would have been a cool pose if not for the ramen noodles hanging from his mouth.

"Umm, what's a Hokage?" She said smiling as the ramen fell from his mouth.

He ignored the food, which was currently answering the call of gravity, and looked thoughtful, "The Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village! When I'm Hokage everyone will respect me."

Tayuya nodded, "Cool!" And the conversation continued from there.

Jace smiled as he watched his daughter go on in great animation the things she'd done in the past few months. Teuchi, the owner of the shop smiled as he handed Jace a bowl of beef ramen, "Nice to see the boy getting on with someone." The proprietor said, a smile on his aging face.

Jace smiled back, breaking apart his chopsticks and eating some of the food before him. "Mm, not bad. Yeah, that boy looks like he's all sorts of fun... His parents must be proud." He looked as a slight frown appeared on the owners face.

"He doesn't have any parents. Raised alone in an orphanage. I hear they're going to force him to live on his own soon." He sighed and crossed his arms.

Jace raised an eyebrow, "No one wants the kid? I mean there are no outstanding flaws that I see about him."

"I... It was made an S-class secret..." The man began. Jace raised his other eyebrow at that.

Jace turned and stared at the kid. _Blond hair, blue eyes, whisker marks... Can't be more then 5... Ooo..._

_**Nice to see you figured it out moron.**_

_Fucking bird._

_**Insults will get you no where mortal.**_

_Pfft, Mortal eh? Haven't been called that in awhile. But I'm right he's..._

_**The jailer of Kyuubi yes. The one that old man asked you to-**_

Jace was shaken out of his inner dialogue by a concerned looking Teuchi. After all Jace had suddenly stopped and stared into space. He flipped his lilac colored hair from his eyes and smiled. "He's Naruto, right? Good; saves me time searching." He turned to the two children and motioned them to come over. He looked at the boy who had a small smile on face and matched it with a wide grin of his own. "You're Naruto right? Ol' man Sarutobi has told me a lot about you. Asked me to find you and bring you with me to go see him. Wanna finish eating and then we can go."

Naruto was shocked, first the girl had been friendly and now this? Adults were never nice to him, save the Hokage, Teuchi and a few others. He nodded his head and downed his last bowl of ramen. Jace nodded and motioned for him to follow.

A few minutes later and they found themselves outside the Hokage office. Jace smiled and turned to the two small children behind him. "This shouldn't take long..." He opened the door and looked at a tired looking Sandaime who was currently dealing with paperwork. The famed God of Shinobi looked up and smiled as he watched the grey eyed man enter the room.

"Jace, it's been entirely too long. Come sit." He said motioning at the couch. Jace bowed his head slightly in respect and seated himself, Tayuya also sitting down beside him. "So I am sorry to hear about the loss of your friend."

Jace smiled, "Thanks, it was rough for the first couple weeks but I found something to ah, take my mind off it." He said glancing at the red haired girl sitting innocently beside him.

The Sandaime smiled warmly, "Yes I heard that you had taken to your new role quite well. I was wondering..."

"You want me to take him as well I imagine, after all birds of a feather." Jace said, cutting him off with a short laugh.

Naruto looked at him slightly confused. "We're... alike?"

Jace glanced at the Hokage, a glimmer of anger in his eyes, "Fuckin' A. He doesn't know does he?" Sarutobi shook his head in reply. Jace looked at Naruto, Blue eyes meeting grey. "Naruto, you're the jailer of Kyuubi. The 9-tailed demon fox." Such a simple sentence. The Hokage paled, he had expected Jace to say it but not quite so... Directly.

Naruto looked more confused, "So... It didn't die? The Fourth didn't kill it?" His life up till now was making sense; this was why the villagers hated him... Tears started to well in his eyes when Jace snapped his fingers in front of his face, grabbing the blonde's attention.

"Hey! Don't cry. Unless you're happy, but I'm thinking that's not why your crying right now. Smile kid, your Father left you with a great gift."

"My... father?" The Hokage paled again as Jace turned to him, more then a slight glint of anger in his eyes.

"Well for fuck's sake, Ol Man, did you tell the kid anything? Naruto, your Father was Minato Namikaze, also known as the fourth Hokage. He sealed the Kyuubi in you in such a manner as slowly the Fucking Fox's power would become yours." He smiled, "Us demon vessels get the coolest abilities when our 'tenants' are sealed well."

Naruto was overwhelmed and sat down on the couch to think. A week ago he was smiling in an orphanage to mask the pain of being alone, and now he finds out he has the greatest demon lord sealed in him and that his father was the famed Fourth. "Wait... Us?"

Jace smiled, "You catch on quick. I like that. I have the Phoenix Raxxieal sealed in me. It's kinda a pissy lot in life, but for those going the path of shinobi having a demon sealed inside you makes for a great plus." That caused the whisker marked boy to smile.

"So I can still be a great ninja… and Hokage?"

"Kid, you have the potential to be the best of them so far. Which kinda brings me to why I find myself in Konoha. I'm here to adopt you. Not quite legally since... I don't think I can and the stupid council probably doesn't want you to leave... But do I give a fuck?" Jace grinned and flopped onto the couch.

The Sandaime sighed, "Well that is why I asked you here." He looked at Naruto the boy he'd come to love as a grandson. "But ultimately the choice is yours Naruto."

The blond boy mulled it over, "So, I stay here and be tormented in an orphanage... Or go with someone who knows what I am and accepts me..." Jace smiled, so young, so full of sarcasm. The boy had potential.

"Oh, I can also train you to be the finest shinobi leaf has ever seen." Jace said, just throwing that extra bit of incentive out there.

Naruto perked, "You're strong?"

"Beyond so. And that's before I use my demon's power. I'll be able to train you to do both. But first I'm going to talk to your.. Guest." He leaned forward and lightly grabbed the sides of Naruto's head, slowly his grey eyes faded into a stormy blue, with what appeared to be rotating swirls of yellow lightning. A slight glow appeared and Jace found himself in Naruto's mindscape. He walked through a maze of damp sewage filled corridors until he found himself in front of a massive cage. A small piece of paper with the Kanji for seal was on it. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Hey Fucking Fox, I know you're in there. C'mon out I gotta talk to you."

"_**Who DARES insult Kyuubi?" **_A massive swirl of orange chakra came together swirling together to form the giant demon fox. Jace stifled a laugh. _**"You dare laugh before me?"**_

"I'm sorry! I can't help it! It's your ears man. You'd look like a demonic bunny if it wasn't for the tails." Jace laughed out loud this time as the mental image of the most fearsome demon lord hopping gaily through a field of flowers came to his mind.

"_**I should kill you where you stand!"**_

Jace stopped laughing as a serious look overcame his face, his eyes glowed a bright blue as he laughed at the demon fox. "I am NOT scared of a caged beast. Even if it as one as powerful as yourself. Now I came to deal with you Lord. I can make your.. confinements." He said gesturing at the damp sewer area they were in. "Far more bearable. Maybe bring in a TV and some books."

The fox stopped growling. _**"You can do that?" **_Jace nodded.

"In exchange you lend the boy your help, chakra, or, hell, even advice if the mood hits you." Jace said nonchalantly. The demon mulled it over.

"_**Agreed. As a show of good faith can you do something for me right now?" **_Jace raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Sure." He listened to the request and sighed. Focusing slightly he pulls a thick orange book from thin air. The title 'Icha Icha Paradise: Kitsune Edition' he tossed the book at the fox. The demon lord grabbed it and giggled pervertedly before fading into his cage. "That's soooo damn creepy." Jace said to noone. "Remodeling will wait for later I guess." he said exiting Naruto's mindscape.

Back in the real world the Hokage looked at Jace. "Well?"

Jace flashed a toothy grin. "We're good on all fronts. Ok kid. We're gonna buy you some new clothes and then blow this dive." He looked at Tayuya, "Sweetie, looks like you have a new brother."

She squealed in delight and grabbed Naruto in a tight hug. "Cool!"

Naruto was slightly shocked, his whole life turned around in an instant. He only had one question, "Will I still be able to become Hokage?"

Jace and the Sandaime exchanged glances, before the lilac haired man smiled. "Yup, we're moving back here before the academy class you would have joined graduates. SO don't worry... You'll still get your dream."

Naruto smiled. "Yes! So when do we leave?" he said with a huge grin plastered on his face.

...

A/N: And thus ends the prologue! Kinda on the lengthy side.. for me at least. Hope you enjoyed it so far. Yes this was a little Jace centric but c'mon, he rocks. At any rate the story will focus on our fav blond idiot... Eventually at least. And his friends. But don't think the little adoptive family is complete yet still one little Demon container to get... hehehe... (Loud dramatic voice comes over the loud speaker)

**Next up: Demon Child of the Sand.**

For those of you wondering...

Name: Jace

Age: 25

Sex: Male

Height: 6'2

Hair: Lilac Purple

Build: Lithe

Favored Jutsu/Attack/Weapons: None, he has an affinity for everything and trains as such to be an unpredictable force in battle.

Demon Contained: Raxxieal the Phoenix bird god of rebirth. Slightly talkative, bit of a prick.

Bloodline Limit(s): Yes he has some. But I'm not gonna say what

Pairings (hypothetical or otherwise): AnkoOc(Jace), NaruIno. Those 2 are for sure... the rest I have some ideas about... Anyone got a good idea for a gay Sasuke?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here we go for the second chapter... I don't know how often I'll be updating so... be patient eh?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did; Gaara would be in it a hell of a lot more.

**Chapter 1**

-1 Year After Leaving Konoha-

"No no, up strike, then a down strike. Here try again."

Naruto sighed and rolled up off the grown, holding a wooden training sword in his hand. He nodded at the purple haired man in front of him. "K, I'm ready to try again."

Jace smiled at his young charge. Only a month into their trip the blonde container had picked up the basics of good chakra control. Jace had told him to do chakra manipulation exercises at night, for if they weren't walking during the day they'd practice building up his body. Right now, it was kenjutsu training.

He was broken form his reverie as the whiskered boy dashed forward, with a surprising amount of grace for a five year old, and swung up with his training sword. Jace leaned back to avoid, and was caught slightly off guard when Naruto, at the top of swing changed his hand positions and brought the sword back down, leaning forward slightly catching his teacher on the knee.

Jace smiled and then kicked the bottom of the weapon with his other leg, popping it from the child's grasp. He reached out and snagged it with his free hand. "Not bad Naruto. Not bad at all. Especially since your 5."

"Five and a half."

Jace grinned wider and motioned for the blonde to settle for the day. He stretched and put the two training weapons away before channelling chakra into the seal on his glove. With a puff of smoke a large cooled beverage appeared in his hand. Both children raised an eyebrow at the familiar site.

"Dad, how DO you do that?" The red haired girl asked, putting away her flute.

Jace shrugged as he took a slurp. "It's a type of summoning I accidentally stumbled across. It's a variant of animal summoning, something I'll teach you guys someday."

This time Naruto spoke, "But, summoning a slurpee? How is that possible?"

Jace shrugged again, "I don't question where it comes from. If whatever deities exist deign to give me some of their sustenance so be it. I won't complain." He said, taking another slurp of his addiction.

_Somewhere across the dimensional boundaries... A 7-11 employee questions his sanity about why one particular machine always seems to empty faster than the other._

The two children shrugged it off. Tayuya looked around "Hey Dad... Where are we going anyways?"

"Sunagakure... Hidden Village of the Sand. I heard from one of my contacts about another possible demon container. From the sounds of it he has a defective seal... So we're going to check." Jace said gesturing towards the desert. The children nodded and then went about their evening activities. Jace sighed and slumped into a folding chair he brought him everywhere he went. His ear twitched as he caught the sound of something about a hundred yards away. Making a few handsigns he whispered, "_Legion no Bunshin._" A copy of him appeared, only clad in desert cam gear with twin katanas strapped to its back. He silently directed the clone to go investigate.

The faint sound of muffled screams was heard a few minutes later and the kids snapped to attention, and then looked at their caretaker. "What was that?" The ever observant blonde said.

"Mm? Oh, It was nothing." Jace said smiling, drinking his slurpee.

Both kids had picked up that meant: _It was probably human and no longer alive._ They shrugged it off, it was common enough. But Naruto frowned a bit. "Hey Jace-san..."

"hey! None of that san crap. You know it's just Jace for me all right?"

Naruto nodded, "Jace... When are you gonna teach me some cool jutsu?"

Jace looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, well you've been patient... relatively speaking... for a year now... So I can show some I guess."

Tayuya looked up at him as well. "And me Dad?"

Another smile form Jace, "Of course you to. Anything you guys wanna learn in particular?"

Naruto looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin for a moment. "How about that Legion no Bunshin you always use?"

Jace shook his head, "You can't pull that off unless you've mastered integrating demonic chakra with your own... It's an SS class jutsu that only skilled demon vessels can pull off. One I made myself. So while you might learn it later not yet. Besides I want to teach you both the same thing." He paused, thinking, "How about some earth jutsu? We are heading into the desert after all." Both children smiled.

Jace motioned them out of the campsite and told them to pay attention, "Now this is called Earth Pillar. Form these seals here..." He said going through about 8 handseals slowly so they could watch. "Then channel chakra to your feet, stomp and..." As he stomped into the ground a huge pillar of dirt shot up in front of him. "..Presto! Instant wall. This is great as a quick distraction, blocks off an enemy view point while you prepare something else and if you get it underneath a guy can launch them quite high into the air." The kids nodded and immediately attempted to do it on their own. They managed to get a wall of about 5 inches between the two of them. Jace sighed. "it takes work... Don't worry we have time, once you master this I'll show another one that goes great with it. Now come on time for bed." With a sigh the kids went into their respective tents. Jace watched and smiled he turned to the small campfire and started manipulating the flames, creating different shapes in them. After an hour of manipulation exercises, which consisted of using earth manipulation to make a small city, then burn it to the ground, he exhaled loudly looking around. Summoning 2 Legion bunshins to stand guard he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.

-2 weeks later, outside the walls of Suna-

In the last 2 weeks the kids had almost gotten the wall above their heads. Which was fairly impressive as all things went as Jace suspected neither of the 2 had a very good affinity for earth. But, strengthen your weakness, and your strengths will be better still. It was Jace's own motto for training himself. So all things considered 4 feet was fairly impressive... For a 5 year old and a 7 year old. He shrugged to himself mentally as he was stopped by ANBU guards. "Can I help you?" He asked the masked pair.

They looked at him before the one on the left spoke, "You are the White Phoenix... Jace right?"

The lilac haired man shrugged non-commitally, "Amongst other names yes."

"The kazekage heard you were in the area and wishes to meet with you. Follow Us." They said in neither an asking or demanding tone.

"Lemme get a hotel for my apprentices here to stay in first." He didn't call them his children around ANBU never knew how that would be taken after all. The 2 elites looked at each other and nodded, directing the three travelers to a decent and well priced place to stay, Jace bid his young charges farewell and told them he would be back soon.

A few minutes later Jace found himself in the Kazekage office sitting in a fairly comfortable chair sipping some sort of tea. The Kazekage looked him up and down. "So I've heard rumours you're... Very capable, how many Rain nin's did you kill in that one ambush? 150?"

Jace raised an eyebrow, "200... My partner at the time took out another 100. If I may be so bold, we have you asked this meeting?"

The Kage spread his hands, "Why wouldn't I wish to meet someone with a reputation as yourself? But as you may have correctly surmised, I need you to do something for me... An assassination."

Jace shrugged, "No bigge. Who, How, Why and where?"

"My son Gaara... How is up to you... And why, is because he contains the One Tailed Demon." The Kazekage said neutrally.

"Ah... Out of control is it?" Jace said in a knowing voice. Hiding his own mental disgust. _You motherfucking excuse of a father. First you fuck the kid's life and now you want to go 'oops' and hit a magic fucking reset button? I have half a mind to...-_ He mentally ran through a list of several dozen torture techniques all while smiling. "Sure I'll do it... Cheap to since you're a first time customer. How about... 20'000? 10'000 now, the rest after."

The Kage raised an eyebrow, considering he was hunting a demon vessel that was a reasonable price indeed. _I guess the rumours about this man are true. He is not motivated by wealth, though he doesn't mind to make a profit. I mean, he simply looks bored... Best to curry his favour now. If he survives... He will be most useful to call on later._ The sand leader thought. "Agreed. As a bonus however let me give you an additional 5k on completion."

Jace half nodded. "Indeed. I will come by tomorrow upon completion." He said, and with that he rose from his seat grabbing a small check on his way out of the building. He smirked inwardly, _Well, I guess I don't need to worry about any kidnapping charges now..._ He almost skipped back to the hotel, grabbing a scroll on altering seals and consulting with his 'guest'. Who knew a bird demon was so knowledgeable on the art of sealing?

-A few hours later around midnight-

Jace scowled, he knew the military budget was slashed but damn the guards here sucked. Or maybe it's that they knew he was coming and didn't want to be collateral. He shrugged the thought off and slipped onto the rooftops where he'd seen the red haired boy go. He got up and watched as the boy sat and stared at the moon. _His life sucks... I swore I would never let anyone suffer as I did if I could prevent it. Guess what kid, tonight's your once in a lifetime opportunity..._ "Gaara I presume?" He spoke softly as he walked up behind the boy.

The red head turned, his eyes a mix of fear, sadness and rage. "What do you want? You come to kill me to?" Sand started to pour from his gourd, like a snake ready to strike.

Jace sat cross legged and shook his head. "No. Well, ok. That's what I was hired to do, but not why I'm here."

Gaara shifted into an unbelieving expression. "Why are you here then?"

"To give you an offer kid. But first, tell me do you hear voices?" The sand child's eyes widened as he nodded. "I thought as much... I can make the voices go away, calm the demon." He said with a smile.

Disbelief crossed the emerald eyed boy's face. "But why? I'm a monster..."

Jace looked angry and slightly hurt at the comment, "Gaara... If I were to call you a monster and deny your humanity, then I would be denying my own as well."

Gaara's eyes went wide at that. "You've got a-" Jace nodded. "You can make it go away?" He almost begged as a sorrow no child should know showed itself in his eyes. Jace nodded.

"This will hurt... Me more then you if I do it right. But don't worry, you'll fall asleep and wake up with friends." He said smiling again. That trustworthy smile that could warm the most emotionless of people... When he did it right anyways.

Gaara nodded hesitantly, after all what did he have to lose? "All... all right..."

Jace nodded and motioned the child to lift his shirt, exposing the seal. He almost swore out loud. _Whoever sealed this kid was on crack! What the fuck were they thinking?_ "Damnit... This is defiantly going to hurt me... Oh well... Brace yourself kid."

Faster than Gaara could react, Jace thrust both hands forward, one onto Gaara's head, the other over the seal on his stomach. His hands started to glow a pale blue as his eyes flashed from grey to a violent storm of blue and yellow.

Jace quickly found himself in Gaara's mindscape. As he removed the seal and put on a new one he would have to hold back the demon with his own willpower for the brief moment it was free. He gazed around a large desert, miles of endless sand. "Huh, no mind is like the other..." He said softly before spying his prey in the distance he walked towards it and swore at the sight.

A large circle was drawn in the sand, the huge form of Shukaku standing within. Tied only with a small frail rope that was attached to a small wooden sign outside the circle. The sign read, "Please don't poke the Tanuki" on it a little chibi figure with a stick was being mauled by the sand demon. Jace sweat dropped at the sight. "Well no fucking wonder the kid is messed up!"

The demon caught sight of him and growled.

"**And who might you be trespassing in my domain?"**

"Hey, fuck you, fuzz face. This ain't YOUR domain. Not for long anyways." The lilac haired warrior laughed as he did a seal hand sign. Huge metal plates rose from the ground and slammed onto the beast, a massive electric current blasted into it. The creature raged and fought, throwing it's demonic energy into the bars.

Sweat poured from Jace as he held fast keeping the creature there. Slowly a huge barrier rose from the ground, the kanji for seal written on every bar. Jace just about collapsed as the process finished, letting the electric bars fade away. He'd used his own chakra and energy to hold it back _and_ form the seal. "Of all the times to not have access to the fucking bird's power." He panted. He glared at the caged beast. "This cage will draw slowly on your power, giving it to the boy. You no longer exert the hold you once did... I'll check back here every so often and if your pleasant enough I might make things more bearable." And with that he was gone from the desert of Gaara's mind.

In the real world Jace fell back from Gaara and looked at his burned hands, slowly healing. "Yeah... that hurt." He looked at Gaara and smiled. The boy was curled up, fast asleep. A new seal similar to the one on Naruto glowing faintly on his belly. Wasn't quite as efficient as the blondes but it would keep the demon from the red head's dreams. Jace glanced around quickly, grabbed the boy and shunshined into the hotel room.

-The next morning-

Gaara awoke to the face of a smiling blonde and red haired girl. "W-where am I?"

Naruto grinned wide enough to blind, "You're safe with us. Dad says you're like me. So that's cool! What's your name?"

Gaara blinked a few times. "..Gaara."

"Naruto! Nice to meet you, that's Tayuya over there." He said pointing at the red haired girl who looked up and smiled at him. A genuine warm smile, Gaara couldn't believe it. He looked around and found himself in a small camp outside the city. He looked at Naruto questioningly.

The blond shrugged, "Dad moved us all out last night after bringing you back. He said he was gonna get his money then come back. You're gonna be travelling with us!" Naruto smiled again, this time getting a smile from Gaara as well. Naruto then stared him in the eyes, "Hey, Dad said we're like brothers... so can I call you bro?"

Gaara blinked again. Noone he had ever met treated him like this! He nodded slowly. "..I guess."

It was then Jace came up on the camp happily skipping along, yes _skipping,_ and don't question it. All super powered people are allowed to be quirky. He looked at Gaara, "Sleeping beauty awakes. How are ya?"

Gaara looked at the man he'd met the night before. "Good. Thank You..."

Jace smiled, "Hey, birds of a feather. Everyone needs someone to look out for them." He paused, "So Gaara, your father thinks you're dead. Your free to do as you wish. But I would ask if you would consider coming with us."

Gaara looked at Suna, the city and family that treated him like a demon. And then at the people currently surrounding him, who looked at Him, not some creature inside. "...No choice. I would gladly come with you... Dad..."

Jace raised an eyebrow at that. "Umm, you don't gotta-"

Gaara raised a hand and cut him off, "In one night you have treated me better then my Father has in my entire life. But if you do not wish me-"

Jace sighed in defeat, "Naw, it's fine. The other two call me that as well. Goes to show family is more than blood right?" The three children before him smiled and nodded. Jace grinned, _Who knew... I bet Dray would laugh if he heard I was looking after a group of kids that called me Dad..._ He closed his eyes at the thought, and at the memory of his closest friend, before clapping his hands together. "Now then, morning training begins!" Naruto groaned, Tayuya sighed and Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow. Jace rubbed his hands together gleefully, he was gonna shape these brats into the best team the shinobi world had seen... Or die trying. Well, maybe not die... More like give up and grab a slurpee. But he would definitely try! He looked out towards the sandy dunes imaging the world beyond them and smirked. 6 years until he promised Ol' Man Sarutobi he'd be back... This was going to be fun.

...

A/N: And thus ends chapter 2! I love Gaara, I really do... Next time we meet up with our merry little misfits will be when they get back to Konoha. Fun fun fun! There will be flashbacks in later chapters hinting at things they did and people they met however.

**Next time on Children of the Fire: Taking the Genin exams by Storm!**

For those of you interested:

Gaara: Age 5

Naruto: Age 5

Tayuya: Age 7

Jace: Age 26

(these next two were unseen but I'll throw their ages in anyways)

Temari: Age 8

Kankuro: Age 7

**Jutsu of the day: Legion no Bunshin**

Creator: Jace

Type: Clone/replicant

Uses: A high combat version of Kage Bunshin, the Legion clones are infused with demonic chakra giving them mass stamina. It takes a lethal shot to bring down one of these clones. Each clone looks different and is armed differently, reflecting Jace's own Infinity style. (Each clone uses a particular style Jace has mastered, whereas he can use all of them. Yes, he is just that good.)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here we go chapter 3... Catching up to the manga's starting point. Now I've pushed out the chapters so far in a fairly high rate for me... But I've been in a very literary mood. Here's hoping it holds! It's funny, I have another story that's like, 4 times as long as this one (currently) and I've almost caught up to view wise... Naruto readers vs. Megaman readers, I suppose... To those that reviewed and have enjoyed: You guys rock! That said... Please enjoy...

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would attempt to find a way for Naruto to be with all the girls... except Tsunade, that'd be disturbing.

Chapter 3

-6 years later outside the gates of Konoha-

Two figures slowly approached the gates, one wearing a blood red t-shirt matching his hair color, and black cargo pants. A massive sand filled gourd rested on his back. His companion with wild blonde hair and piercing blue eyes smiled beside him. He was dressed in a white muscle shirt and white cargo pants, a bright orange fox emblazoned on the back of his shirt.

Following closely behind them was a red-haired girl wearing a burgundy t-shirt under a long sleeve fishnet shirt. She was wearing black cargo shorts to go with it. Beside her was tall figure with soft purple hair that matched his clothing. A purple leather trenchcoat, over a dark, almost black, purple t-shirt and burnt orange cargo pants. He waved at the Chunin guards who were just staring at the... Unique... group approaching them. One of the guards held up his hand, "Name and purpose for visit?"

Jace looked at them, one hand stroking his chin. "Jace is my name... You don't need to know theirs... Oh, we're here to see the Hokage. Then I think what, we're moving in here? That is what you guys wanted right?" He said looking around at his 3 adopted children who all nodded at him. Jace turned back to the guards and smiled, "We good? Or do we have to be... _difficult..._"

The Chunins shook their heads and motioned them to continue. Jace turned to his family and happily started to skip, yes _skip_, ahead of them. He reached out with one gloved hand and snapped his fingers, a large slurpee appearing in it. The 3 kids sighed and followed him into the village.

-An hour later at the Hokage tower.-

The Sandaime sighed as he looked at the mountains of paper work before him, weighing the benefits of a minor Katon jutsu when his door was kicked open by a very loud blonde youth. "Hey Gramps! I'm baaack!"

The elderly Sarutobi sighed, his thoughts of combustible work gone as Naruto burst into the door followed by Gaara, Tayuya and Jace. He smiled though, happy to see the blonde as energetic as ever. "So I-"

He was cut off as the Tayuya smacked her little brother upside the head, "And now everyone around fucking knows it! Fuckin' A, bro! Stealth is part of being a ninja." He looked up sheepishly at her and grinned before jumping onto the couch.

"Dad, Sis is picking on me again." He said with an exaggerated pout.

"I'll stop picking on you when you smarten the hell up!" She retorted. Both of them glared at each other before Gaara sighed and stepped between the two.

The container of Ichibi looked at Jace and half nodded. The purple clad man sighed and sat beside the blonde and kicked his feet up on a small table in front of him. "Both of you. Try to be.. Somewhat respectful... I mean try. For me."

The two trouble makers sighed and were about to launch into a he/she started it war when Jace cut back in, "Or I'll sic Gaara on you..." They both shut up. Gaara smiled and looked to his adopted father and half nodded.

Sarutobi leaned back in his admittedly comfy chair and sighed audibly, grabbing the attention of those in the room. "So Naruto I recognize, Tayuya I remember from your last visit... But the red headed boy here... Where's he from?"

Jace froze, "...Gaara's origins are not of consequence, suffice to say he won't be missed and..." He gestured between Naruto and himself, "He's one of us..."

The Hokage nodded, "All right then... So I take it they wish to enrol in the academy? How are their skills?"

A short laugh from Jace at that comment, "Easy mid Chunin level separate, together? They've taken down Jonins. If I didn't think they needed some time at least to get to know possible teammates, I wouldn't have brought them here for another 6 months... But they chose to come to Leaf. I said 'Hey anywhere you guys want. Mist is always fun.' But noo, had to be Konoha, right, Naruto?"

The blond smiled, "Believe it!" SMACK on the back of his head. Jace glared at him.

"Hey! What did I say about that? It irritates _everyone_." He sighed as the blonde laughed. He knew the boy only did it to piss him off now... But hey, signs of a good personality. Jace shrugged absentmindedly at the thought and took a long slurp from his drink. He paused for a moment and then looked at his daughter. "Tay... Do you want to go to the academy, become a Genin... All that crap?"

She looked around the room, never focusing on anyone thing while thinking of an answer. "Fuck no. Too old for that Genin crap and you know I'm better then that..." Jace smiled and nodded. "Especially since you gave me-" She stopped as her father motioned with his hand.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow as his curiosity piqued, but he decided to let it slide. "Well, if you want to become a shinobi... I could arrange a probationary Chunin period, lasting about 6 months. You'd be partnered with one of our Jonins."

She mulled it over, "Hmm, Sure... Leaf wasn't my first choice but my little brothers like it here. So anything that helps them I'm good with." In truth, she would rather be like her father, he hailed on neutrality between the clans. He got along with all sides and had friends everywhere. His sons had wanted to go to Leaf and he had admitted it was a decent enough place. Prejudiced, but that was mostly the civilians. The fellow shinobi were all good. Jace looked at her with a questioning look. She simply nodded in response.

"Well now that that's all done with... Gaara, Naruto report to the academy on Monday, Tayuya, if you could report here on Monday for a judge of your abilities and to be assigned to a Jonin." The Sandaime said in a firm, yet somehow gentle voice. "Jace, I hear you have arranged a place to live?"

Jace smiled, "I did. Bought a nice penthouse apartment. 4 bedroom, kitchen... Balcony..." He started to drift into his own thoughts at this. He'd never had a home; always wandering. Not that he didn't enjoy that lifestyle, but he was 31. About time to settle down... Somewhat anyways. "C'mon, kids. Let's leave the old man to his reading." He laughed and watched the three youths exit the room. He turned back to look at the Sandaime, "Thanks Ol' Man." And with a half wave over his shoulder, he left the room. The Hokage smiled slightly to himself, then frowned, looking at the stack of paperwork and realizing he'd just caused more for himself.

"Maybe I can make it look like an accident..." He mused going over another Katon jutsu mentally.

-2 days later, Monday-

Gaara and Naruto walked towards the academy engaged in what looked like a battle of... Silence... Which if you knew the two was something that didn't happen often. Especially with Naruto. The reason for said silence had been at breakfast that morning...

_**Flashback**_

Naruto yawned rubbing sleep from his eyes. He would never get bored of sleeping in a nice comfortable bed. He looked lazily around the kitchen; his Dad was, unsurprisingly, drinking a slurpee while eating what appeared to be cold canned ravioli. Tayuya was eating a similar meal, only with it being noodles in the shape of Kunai. Ninja-ghetti or something like that. The blonde made a face in disgust. "How do you eat that... Crap?"

Jace shrugged, "Tastes good at any temperature, lasts for a decent amount of time, And _someone_ was hogging the stove."

Tayuya raised her hands in defence, "Hey don't look at me. I like mine cold."

It was at this point Naruto's gaze fell upon his brother, who was sitting quietly eating a bowl of ramen. Naruto paused; the last time he had checked, there had only been one serving of ramen left. One serving of HIS ramen. As it was the unspoken rule of the family that if there were less than 4 packages of ramen available they went to Naruto. The blonde was lost for words; he simply gaped at the green eyed boy in shock. Gaara looked up at him innocently, "What? I was hungry. They ate the last of the pasta and I don't _do_ cereal." Which was true, the boy had a borderline neurotic phobia with breakfast cereal.

Naruto just started to twitch funnily, unmoving aside from involuntary spasms. Tayuya grabbed the last of her food and ran for the door, "Catch ya later, Dad! Gotta go before he blows all over my good clothes." And with that she was gone and off towards the Hokage tower.

Sand leaked from Gaara's gourd forming a shield around him... and his food, protecting it from any possible remains.

Jace was torn between 2 very large issues. On the one hand it would be cool to see someone's head explode from mental shock alone, on the other this was his kid and more importantly he'd just cleaned the house. He sighed and put down his slurpee and shook the blonde gently, "Hey! Hey it's ok. I'll buy more ramen later today... And we can go to Ichiraku's for dinner, all you can eat. Sound good?"

Naruto awoke from his state, a good thing too; only 30 seconds before critical failure. He looked at Jace. "A-all right."

"Good, now the both of you have to go off to the academy. Go on, I gotta go meet up with your sister. See you guys after all right?" Both boys nodded at him and slowly made their way to the school. Naruto still in a half daze.

_**End of Flashback**_

Gaara poked Naruto as they walked through the academy entrance, finally coming back to life the blonde snapped to attention. The first thing he did was glare at his brother then sigh dramatically. "Whatever... I'll just get you back _somehow._" He grinned at that, causing his brother to shudder slightly. He knew what that grin meant. Naruto glanced down to check what he was wearing, forgetting he hadn't really been paying attention that morning. He was wearing a black t-shirt with an orange fox on the front, and light blue jeans. He shrugged and looked at what his brother was wearing. Gaara had adorned himself in a black t-shirt as well, only his had the kanji for love in bright crimson on the front, also wearing blue jeans. He paused and looked up to see they had arrived at their assigned class room. He looked at Gaara and gave him a 'you first' motion.

The red head sighed, grabbed Naruto's shoulder and shoved him into the classroom. Gaara looked at the men he assumed were teachers and half bowed. The one with the scar across his face looked at the two and smiled, "You must be the new students. Class, we have 2 new kids joining us today." He looked at the blond and red head, "Your names are?"

Gaara answered for the both of them, "I'm Gaara, just Gaara... And the idiot looking one is Naruto." Naruto nodded along, and then paused.

"What whatya mean idio-" Gaara's hand clamped over the blonde's mouth as he smiled at the teacher. With that the two went up to the back of the class grabbing a couple of empty seats. Sasuke eyed them as they walked up. _New students... I wonder how strong they are; bah they can't match the power of me, an Uchicha... The red head is pretty cute though, same with the blonde... Now if we remove their-_ And that's where his line of thought slowly degenerated to, along with a few girls in the class. Iruka sighed and started in on the class lesson.

Half an hour in, Gaara had fallen asleep sitting straight up with his eyes half open. Something that even Jace never quite figured out how he did. Naruto just stretched out his feet in boredom. Mentally sizing up the other students as possible teammates. _Eh... They all look... Kinda weak, though after Dad's training I'm sure anyone would be whipped into shape. But... Some of them look good; kid with the dog on his head looks fun. Wonder if that guy with hair like a duck's ass is strong, the way all the girls ogle him. Fangirls... kinda irritating, though that blonde is kinda cute. _ He shrugged it off and resumed his inspection of the class.

-At the Hokage tower-

Tayuya was sitting in a corner swearing, and swearing with just a touch of swearing, waiting for her supposed new teacher. Her dad had shown up a while back and in the interest of father daughter bonding, the two were coming up with better ways to insult someone. Jace sighed after awhile checking a clock, he glanced at the red-haired girl, "So, how's your, uh," He said gesturing at a spot on his neck.

She widened her eyes and then nodded, "Good, hasn't tired me out at all, feels great, tested it a bit the other day and works like you said it would." Jace sighed in relief.

"Good to know. I'll be working on new ways to improve it over time. Right now it gives you more than enough power to match your brothers before they go all... But I should be able to push it up so it can match them afterwards as well. But I still don't want you relying on it ok?" He said as he mussed with her hair a bit.

The Hokage had been half ignoring them, though he did try to pick up on what they were talking about. He shrugged it off and checked the clock; the Jonin he had requested should be arriving... BAM the door flew open and a very irate looking woman stepped through. She was clad in fishnet, a trenchcoat and a skirt. If Jace had been a lesser man he might have fallen over with a nosebleed, but instead he just raised an eyebrow and looked at her hair. _Hey. Purple hair. Cool... Though is it sad she has a darker shade then me?_

Anko (like none of you figured that one out) looked at the Hokage and smiled, "So I hear you got a mission for me old man? Is it any good? Maybe an assassination or forced removal?"

The Sandaime looked at her wearily and gestured at Tayuya, "She's going to be on a probationary period for the next 6 months and I want you to watch over her, maybe train with her a bit."

"...You want me to fucking baby sit some brat?" Anko hissed.

"You want me to hang around some fucking hag?" Tayuya growled.

They both glared at each other.

"Brat!"

"Hag!"

"Brat!"

"Hag!"

This continued for awhile. Jace just smiled, got up, stretched, and looked at the Hokage. "Looks like they'll get along great. See you around, Sarutobi!" He said walking out the door laughing to himself.

-6 months later-

Mizuki ran through the forest triumphantly, he had managed to steal the Forbidden Scroll; Lord Orochimaru would be most pleased. What he didn't realize was that Jace had managed to switch the scroll with a list of karma sutra positions, yaoi style. What neither of them realized was the Snake Sennin would still appreciate this almost as much.

But on to more important things. Iruka looked at the class room of the newly appointed genins and smiled; "All right now we're assigning teams. Team 1..." This continued on until he reached the important teams. "Team 7, Sasuke Uchicha, Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 will be Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga; your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. Team 9 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara and Ino Yamanaka. Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi." Sakura cheered, Ino sighed, Naruto and Gaara shrugged indifferently. Iruka continued on however, "Rookie of the year goes to..."

Sasuke perked his head at that _one. Gonna be me. We all know it; I'm so much superior to the rest of them. After all I'm an Uch-_ His inner monologue was cut short, "Gaara!" Everyone deadpanned.

Gaara half nodded as Naruto gaped at him. He looked at his blonde brother, "Just because we know all the work doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. Dead Last." He chuckled, a rarity for the redhead as Naruto fell over. Naruto of course had dismissed all the work as irrelevant as they already knew all of it. After congratulating the class once again Iruka left as the new Jonin instructors came in and picked up their teams.

_-_At the Hokage tower-

Jace looked at the Sandaime. "You want me to what?"

"Well you see the council has heard of your... Reputation and has asked if your unique skill set be put to use in helping the training of one of our genin teams. Not full time but just coming by and assisting the regular teacher, maybe going on a few missions with them and such." The elderly leader said softly.

"Ok... Which team?" Jace said, taking a sip form his omni-present slurpee.

"Team 7... They want you to help Kakashi Hatake with the Uchicha-"

"FUCK. Are you fucking kidding me they want me to babysit an Uchicha? I _hate_ Uchichas! The only one I liked up and killed the others." Jace fumed, being asked to be an advanced babysitter was not on his list of life goals. He'd met the kid a few times and really did not like the boy.

"Please... I would consider it a personal favor..." Jace perked as the Sandaime said that. He smiled with only a hint of evil in it.

"Favor eh? All right then. I'll do it. But you owe me one..." He laughed he said that, getting up and leaving the office.

The Hokage thought for a moment. _Wait, did I just agree to owe him? Crap..._

...

A/N: And there we have the end of chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't too rushed in the pacing. You might notice I totally left Chouji out, why? Because I hate him. He's overly sensitive about his weight and annoying. Hey when your fat your fat! Get over it, I did! Anyways, seeya all next time...

_**Next on Children of Fire... Ehh, I can't think of a good dramatic description. Ooh well.**_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: And thus begins chapter 4... Again thanks to all my reviewers. This chapter, hints of JaceAnko will start to appear (Maybe. I'm doing this on the fly so who knows). Hmm, not much to say... Except enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not lay claim to Naruto, ergo call off your law-jutsu!

**Chapter 4**

Jace yawned as he looked at the three Genins before him. Their Jonin teacher was just about 3 hours late now. The Phoenix container was not amused, well, he wasn't irritated either, he was just kinda tired. The kids however were getting on his nerves. He thanked whatever deities were watching out for him that the 3 he raised had been, relatively, well behaved. First off there was Mr-I'm-to-Emo-to-smile Sasuke, who kept shooting Jace these odd, slightly creepy looks. Next to him was a girl who Jace had mentally named the Pink Haired Harpie, who just sat staring at Sasuke, asking him out, talking to him about God only knows what. Only to be met with stone cold silence every time. The last of the group was apparently conversing to the small dog on top of his head, Jace didn't have too much of a problem with this but the kid was damn loud and intruding on his sleep.

Ten minutes later Kakashi finally deigned to join the group of Genins, and Jace. He was about to speak when Jace flash stepped in front of him and with his free hand, the other holding a slurpee of course, grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in close, "If you are _ever_ that fucking late _again _I will rip your balls off and feed them to that kid's dog. Are we understood?"

Kakashi blinked with his one eye at the apparently pissed off purple haired man in front of him who, upon a quick sniff smelled oddly of Lilacs. _He's... Kinda cute when he's angry._ Kakashi thought quietly to himself as he nodded in reply to Jace. "I, uh, take it your the assistant the Hokage said I would be having?"

Jace growled in conformation before releasing the Copy Nin and sitting back down. Sasuke watched Jace sit back down, his own thoughts mimicking his new teacher's. Kakashi glanced over his team then shrugged mentally, "All right, roof. 5 minutes." He said as he Shunshined away in a swirl of wind and leaves. Jace sighed, disappearing in a blaze of white flames and lightning. The three Genins gaped at what they saw before dashing to the roof.

Kakashi carefully observed Jace over the top of his book, which was in fact a camera under a particularly well made henge, with great interest. His one visible eye scoured the purple clad man. "So, Jace right? How about after team training we get together and maybe talk about how were gonna work this?"

Jace, who had been staring off into space thinking of times past, looked at the cyclops, "Uh, I guess..."

It was around then the Genin's managed to find their way to the roof. Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow and motioned for them to sit down. "So, I'm new at this whole teaching thing. But why don't we start off telling a little bit about ourselves. I'll start, my name is Kakashi Hatake, I like... _The color purple,_ things, I dislike... _female competition,_ other things. My hobbies are... _Gaining new appreciations for purple leather, _Irrelevant."

Sakura just about shrieked, "We just learned your name!"

Kakashi shrugged, "Since you're so vocal about it, you can start off."

She mentally slapped herself and then blushed, "Uh, My name is Sakura Haruna, my likes are... (She looks at Sasuke and giggles.) My dislikes are... Ino-Pig and people who mock my forehead, my hobbies and dreams... (Again a side glance at the Uchicha brat followed by an inane giggle.)"

Jace swore mentally, _Fangirls. I hate fangirls... Well better then fanboys I suppose._ He shrugged indifferently as Kiba started.

"My name is Kiba Inuzaka, my likes are my dog Akamaru, playing with him, and learning new battle techniques, and my dislikes are cats, baths and people who don't like dogs. My hobbies and dreams? Hmm, I wanna work as a vet like my sister, and I love chasing cats with Akamaru!" He grinned widely at this as the small creature sitting on his head barked happily.

The group turned to the last Genin, Sasuke sighed and in his I'm-So-Tortured voice spoke, "I'm Sasuke Uchicha, My likes are getting stronger..._And purple_, my dislikes are idiots and weaklings, my goal is to kill a certain man and rebuild my clan. _And maybe seduce a certain man while I'm at it."_ He said as he stared at Jace a little too much for the purple haired man's comfort.

Jace paused and sipped his slurpee, before he realized they were all looking at him expectantly, "Ugh, fine. My name's Jace. My likes are Slurpees, fighting, my adopted kids, my dislikes are assholes who betray friends, bastards who experiment on kids, and fuckers who abuse women and children. My goal was to destroy a certain place, but I did that, so looking after my kids has been my priority these days." The group stared at him for a moment deadpanned as he took another nonchalant slurp.

Kakashi shook his head, "Informative... All right meet tomorrow at training ground 7 at 8am sharp. Don't eat breakfast." The Genins all moaned and then dispersed, the masked Jonin looked at his so-called 'assistant', "So, uh, dinner then? When do you-"

"Eh, I'll cook something at the apartment, just show up at my place whenever. I'm sure a good ninja like you can find it." Jace drawled as he flame/thunder shunshined away. Kakashi put away his book/camera and cracked his knuckles. He liked a challenge...

-About three hours earlier with Team 9-

"..And those are my hopes and dreams, now it's your guy's turn." Kurenai Yuhi said to her three Genins.

Naruto shrugged, "All right I'm Naruto, I like ramen, my Dad who saved me from hell, my brother and sister, training, and ramen. I also like raising exotic plants. I dislike judgemental people, jerks who break promises, the wait time for my ramen. My dream is to become the best Hokage Konoha has seen!" He said that last part with a wide grin. Kurenai smiled at the bold haired boy then looked at Gaara and nodded at him.

Gaara shrugged, "I'm Gaara. I like my family, the one who cares about me anyways. I like the color red and experiencing new things. I, like my brother, despise people who would judge me before they know me, I hate the life I had before Dad, Bro and Sis came along." A harsh glare filled his eyes as he remembered his past. He shook it off and continued, "Dreams? I would like to become an equal to the legendary Sannins and see the world. Or settle down with someone important to me, works either way." He said impassively, his hyper-active brother giving him the thumbs up.

Kurenai motioned at Ino to go. The blonde cocked her head and thought a moment. "Hmm, I'm Ino Yamanaka, My Likes are Sasuke-kun, (Both boys rolled their eyes at that.) flower arranging, and gossiping. I dislike people who mock flowers and forehead girl. My dream is to become a Kuinouchi worthy of Sasuke-kun!" Both boys groaned at that last part.

Kurenai just sighed, "Ok then, everyone. Meet at the training ground at 10 tomorrow morning for one last test to see if you're ready to be Genin."

"What? But we already graduated!" whined Ino.

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other and shrugged, "No use complaining. I mean c'mon, we rock. We have a future Hokage and Sannin here! And... You, but you seem to be competent so it's all good." Naruto said with a wide grin directed at his fellow blonde.

Ino muttered something under her breath and wandered away as Kurenai disappeared in a whirl of leaves. The brothers looked at each other and shrugged heading off towards their home, "Hey Naruto... I bet Dad would get along well with Ino."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What makes you say that?"

"They both dress in purple." Gaara stated matter-of-factly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he stretched his hands over his head, "I guess. She's pretty hot ya know." He said with a slight grin on his face.

Gaara glanced at his brother, "I guess. I dunno, I liked Sensei's eyes."

Naruto elbowed his brother at that one, "You got a thing for our instructor?"

Gaara blushed slightly, "You breathe a word to anyone and it'll be a plan 36."

Naruto paled, "36? But that's... inhumane!"

They bantered a bit more heading back to the apartment.

-5 or so hours later-

Tayuya burst into the apartment, "Mother fucker! That bitch is fucking crazy!" She said as she dragged her body to the couch and collapsed on it.

Her brothers simply nodded in agreement as they went about their business. Gaara was sitting at the table his feet up reading a scroll on weapons. Naruto was looking through a monthly planting magazine. They had long gotten used to her outbursts at her trainer.

The red headed girl raised an eyebrow at the 'don't give damn' attitude her brothers had displayed. She sighed dramatically and rolled onto her back. She was sore all over from sparring with Anko, followed by a 'survival test' which had consisted of Tayuya hiding in the forest of death with Anko hunting her. Though the teen badmouthed the Jonin deep down she enjoyed it; which led to her suspecting a slight masochistic streak in herself, but whatever. She was however excited because she had finally proven her father's 'gift' to her battle ready, as she had managed to go toe-to-toe with the purple haired sadist (the female one anyways) for half an hour. She smiled as the man she viewed as a father walked through the door. "Dad!" She exclaimed happily to the sole person she swore her face off at.

Jace looked at his adopted daughter, "Hey sweetie, how was your day?"

Tayuya rolled her eyes, "The usual... For a bit, I managed to use it effectively today." She said rubbing her neck. "I managed to go on even with Anko-Sensei for a while with it." She said happily.

Jace mused for a moment before he smiled, "Great. Gonna have to spar with me and show it to me sometime." He said with a grin, as he drank a slurpee.

Tayuya smiled with praise before lying back onto the couch closing her eyes.

Jace walked through the kitchen glancing at what the two boys were doing. He shook his head as he saw a planting magazine in Naruto's hands. _Sometimes I worry about that boy._ He thought to himself. He was about to grab a can of ravioli when he remembered Kakashi had asked him out for dinner. He paused and mulled that for a bit. _Wait, he asked me out... Nah I'm reading too much into it._

An hour later the Copy Nin arrived to pick Jace up. They walked out to a fairly decent restaurant and discussed possible training methods over dinner. As dessert was served, Kakashi chose to go in for the kill.

"So Jace... Are you single?" He said hesitantly.

Jace looked up from his omni-present slurpee, "Umm, yeah. Why?"

"Would, uh, you, uh. Like to go out with me?" The cyclops asked with hesitation in his voice.

"...Uh, I don't umm, swing that way." Jace said. _Aww damn this is gonna make things awkward later isn't it._

"Are you sure?"

Jace raised an eyebrow at that, "Why does everyone ask me that? Yes, I'm quite sure."

"Oh. Then... You are like... The gayest straight guy... Ever." Kakashi said slightly surprised, he had been sure Jace was like him.

Jace shrugged, "Maybe, but I'm still straight. Sorry man. Hope this doesn't make things uh, awkward."

Kakashi waved him off, "Nah, it'll be fine." _Cause I still get to look at you. Hehehe..._

Jace was more than vaguely unsettled at the look the ninja was giving him. He got up, "Well, I gotta go. I had a nice time. Sorry again." He said as he paid for the both of them before walking out. Kakashi shrugged at the lost opportunity and resigned himself to finishing his cream puff.

-An hour or so later-

Jace had wandered aimlessly, more than a little too disturbed to go to home for the moment. He looked around to see where he was. "Entrance to Training Area 44? Forest of Death... Sounds like a nice place to me."

He gently tossed his now empty slurpee cup over his shoulder and used a shunshin to get into the forest. He smiled as he walked through the dark area, "Feels like old times." He said with a soft chuckle. He might love the life he had now, but he didn't mind the life he had before, despite the horrible violence it entailed. He paused in front of a particularly large tree, glanced at it, then jumped up. Landing on one of the branches, he curled himself up against the trunk and lightly fell asleep.

Half an hour or so later, his eyes fluttered open looking up into soft brown orbs. "Hey! Wake up!" The figure above him said as it shook him into full consciousness.

"Eh? Bah... Lemme sleep." The lilac haired man said sleepily as he sat up none the less. He looked over the figure before him, hands on her hips in a vaguely pissed off manner.

"Sleep somewhere else and get the fuck outta my territory," she almost snarled at him.

Jace raised an eyebrow slowly taking in her features, he snapped his fingers, "Ah! You're Anko, right?"

She paused for a moment and looked at him, "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Nothing I guess, you're the one looking after my kid. We met like 6 months ago." Jace said calmly eyeing the woman.

"Oh you're the Brats dad? Were you the one that gave her the seal on her neck?"

Jace slapped his face. "Of course you'd notice... So much for secrecy."

"Hard not to notice; it was glowing blue after all." Anko said with slight impatience, tapping her foot.

"It glows? Damn I forgot to take that into account... Oh well it works well enough from what I heard her tell me." He sat cross legged on the tree branch as he ignored the glares from the woman before him.

"Mind telling me why my student has what seems to be a fucking curse seal?" She growled that last part out, hatred in her voice at the mention of curse seals.

"Curse seal? Please don't compare that twisted and barbaric... Thing... to the Phoenix Seal. Though I will admit it did give me somewhat of an idea for it." Jace said, "I gave it to her. Her brothers have... Extra sources of power and I wanted to make sure she'd be strong enough to match them."

Anko reflected on that for a moment, "Tell me what makes it so different then and I _may_ let you walk away from here intact." She said as she drew a kunai and licked its edges.

_Holy fuckin' hell that's hot._ Jace shook the thought away and started his explanation, "Well, first off, the seal is based off the users own chakra. It slowly drains any unused chakra, it gets alot when you're sleeping for instance, or if you're eating, walking, not doing anything too chakra intensive. Doing this has 2 purposes, the first is it stores this unused chakra for later, and it slowly enlarges the user's chakra coils." He paused and made sure she was following along, "Anyways, it's got 3 levels, when the first level is activated the stored chakra is used to accelerate the healing process, probably allowing the user to survive some mortal wounds. The second level floods the user's body with chakra, making them faster and stronger than normal chakra enhanced abilities, the user still retains the healing factor as it also benefits from an increase. The third and final level gives the user access to all the chakra it's stored, a massive boost in power. Works something along the lines of a soldier pill, though it's about a thousand times more effective than one. Gives the user access to a chakra supply that if left alone long enough can rival that of a jinchuriki." He stated matter-of-factly.

Anko mused, decided she was satisfied with the explanation and sat down across from Jace. "Well I guess you're not the second coming of Orochimaru then."

Jace scowled, "Ugh do not compare me to the motherfucking won't stay dead creepy ass stalker snake bastard."

Anko raised her eyebrows at that comment, "Ah, you've met him then."

"Unfortunately. Prick just won't stay dead. I have a deep and abiding hatred for the bastard as he helped in the research that..." He trailed off at that.

Sadly for Jace once her interest has been piqued Anko Mitarashi doesn't let go... "That what? Hey believe me I have more than enough reason to hate the pedophile."

Jace looked her over, "Yeah, I've heard. The one person who said I was a fool for letting my daughter train with the, and I quote, 'Crazy Snake Mistress of a Traitor.'" He laughed at that, "Don't think the Ol' Bag realized I smacked her across the face till I was walking away."

"Wait, you... defended me?" Anko said, confused.

"Yeah I mean my kid likes you. Not that anyone could tell... And I got Ol' Man Sarutobi to tell me about you. After all I'm not gonna trust my kids to just anyone." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Wait wait, you know my past and you _trust_ me?" She said, slightly stunned.

"Yeah, I mean from your mission record you've taken on some of the hardest missions and survived, so you're strong. And I despise people who judge others solely on their past and not on what they strive for in the present." He said with a slight smile. "I mean, hey, what's wrong with enjoying stabbing a guy in the face who deserves it? Well, alot of things I'm sure... But in my own defence, everyone I've stabbed in the face so had it coming."

They stared at each other for a few moments in silence before laughing, "I think I might just like you." Anko said laughing and finally putting her kunai away.

Jace smiled, "Good to know. Now what kind of things have you been teaching my daughter?"

Anko grinned sadistically launching into an explanation of her training and opinions on Tayuya. The two conversed like this for a few hours on topic ranging from their favorite methods of dispatching large amounts of enemies to the more useful aspects of some torture methods. They laughed as Jace told her stories of his time with his friend Dray. Eventually Jace stretched, looking around the thick forest. "Damn, I should get going before my kids assume I'm still with Hatake."

Anko laughed, "You realize he's-"

"Gay as rainbow colored bunny? Yeah, only after he asked me out..." Jace shuddered slightly, "And to make things even more fun I'm helping look after his Jonin team because he needs to focus on the damn Uchicha brat." Jace scowled as his trenchcoat clad companion laughed.

"Have fun with that... But I mean, can ya blame him for assuming you were..."

"Yeah, yeah, I already got 'the gayest straight man alive' comment from him." Jace paused, "Ya know, that'd make a great shirt. Have to make one sometime." He flashed a toothy grin. "So you hang in this place often?" He said gesturing at the forest around him.

"Yeah, pretty much the only one that comes here." Anko answered as she got up and stretched as well.

"Cool... Then I will most definitely come visit again." He said with a smile before he disappeared in a flash of white fire and lightning.

Anko grinned, "Show off."

-At Jace, Gaara, Naruto and Tayuya's apartment-

Jace appeared in front of the door, he checked his watch to see how late it was, and mentally flinched, _Well. They should all be asleep... _He opened the door to find all three of his kids staring at him, huge grins plastered on their faces. _Fuck._

"So, Dad how was your night with Hatake-san.." Naruto said mockingly.

"Yeah you throw him down and fuck each other for a few hours?" The red headed girl said with a smile.

Gaara knew better then to comment but laughed slightly at his siblings.

Jace glared at them all, "For the last fucking time I am not gay! Get over it! I wasn't even with Hatake for long. After dinner, he asked me out." This elicited an 'Oooooooo' from Naruto and Tayuya, "And I said no. Then I went and hung at training grounds 44 and hung around there for a few hours." And with that he escaped to his room and locked the door behind him.

The kids shrugged it off and went to their respective rooms. Tayuya was the last asleep staring at the ceiling. _Wait... Anko-Hag hangs at Training Area 44, or Forest of Death, was Dad with her? Naaah. _She shrugged the thought off and drifted into a semi-peaceful sleep.

..............................

A/N: And thus ends this chapter. Wasn't quite sure how I wanted to end it so if it seems a little abrupt, I apologize. Hope you all enjoyed... And again, please review! Me and my multiple personalities love reviews...

**Tune in next time for: More fun with team 7! More fun with team 9! And maybe, just maybe fun with A-Ranked Missing Nins!**

Stats:

Kurenai: Age 22

Anko: Age 25

Jace: Age 32

Kakashi: Age 29


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Here we go for chapter 5... Anyone else pissed off with what Kishimoto is doing with the manga? I am... I swear most fanfics I've read recently have had better plots. Oh well. Hmm... Please remember to review guys!

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto it wouldn't be so fucked up right now.

**Chapter 5**

-Jace and Co's apartment-

The three children awoke to what sounded like someone singing. Naruto yawned and rubbed sleep from his eyes. In his opinion it was far too early to be in the realm of the conscious. Spurred by irritation he opened his door to find out the source of his irritation. As he opened his bedroom door he looked and saw his two siblings had done so as well. The three of them looked at each other, shrugged and wandered into the kitchen. What they saw stopped them in their tracks.

Jace was not normally a morning person. This is mostly because he almost never slept at night, preferring to grab a catnap here and there. To his own surprise he had awoken in what could only be called an irritatingly chipper mood. Acting on his new found mood he had whisked himself away to the kitchen making breakfast in the form of scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and sausages. Which was another thing he didn't get, he almost never ate breakfast. Shrugging it off he continued, not quite with the realization he begun to sing as he cooked. Which is the sight his adopted children were greeted with.

There, in the middle of the kitchen, with a frying pan in hand, clad in white fuzzy pajama bottoms, Jace was half dancing around singing to himself.

"I want a girl with a short skirt,  
And a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong jacket

I want a girl who gets up early  
I want a girl who stays up late."

He deftly flipped a pancake into the air, spun around catching it back into the pan.

"I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity  
Who uses a machete to cut through red tape."

At this scene, only one phrase came to the kids' minds.

"What."

"The."

"Fuck?"

-2 hours later-

"So, what the fuck was up with Dad this morning?" Tayuya said to her two brothers.

"Dunno. Creepy as hell though." Naruto said as they walked out of the building.

"Meh, he made good food though." The other two looked at Gaara, then shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"True that. Later, Tay." Naruto waved to their sister as she split and went off towards her usual meeting point with Anko, the dango shop.

"So Gaara, whatya think this extra test is gonna be?"

"Probably some overly simple test to see if we can work as a team or not. Seems to be the norm from what I've over heard." The red head said with a slight shrug. "We both know we work well as a team, so make sure you get your crush to work it out as well."

Naruto blushed slightly, "She's not my... Ok well yeah she's hot. But she's a fangirl... We gotta fix that first."

"Agreed. Fangirlism gets people killed."

"Fangirlism? Is that a word?"

"It is if I say it is. Now shut up; I gotta try to think of how to get our teacher to notice me. And you will not screw it up, you will help me or, by god, you will be haunted by sand for the rest of your natural life." Gaara said. To emphasize the point some sand crept out of the gourd and lightly hung around Naruto's neck.

"Right... Gotcha back on this one." Naruto gulped, giving his temperamental brother a thumbs up.

"Good. Now let's get a move on, I have no wish to be late." Gaara said as he picked up in a burst of speed. The blond sighed and dashed after him.

-Outside the Dango shop-

"Where the fuck is that Ol' Hag at anyways? She's never late!" Tayuya fumed as she waited ever so impatiently outside the store.

"Right here brat." A voice from above the red head said, amusement in her voice. Tayuya looked up and scowled at her teacher who was standing upside down on a light post, eating dango. She hopped gracefully down and landed in front of the teen. She flashed a cheshire grin, "We got a nice easy B rank mission, think of it as a way to celebrate the fact you're a full Chunin now."

Tayuya flashed her own grin at that, "Fuckin' A. Lets get going."

A few hours later the two found themselves observing a small group of Nuke-Nins, 2 Chunin level and 1 Jounin level. The group wore mist head protectors and all were packing large swords.

"Fuck, think they're compensating for something?" Tayuya whispered to her purple haired teammate.

The snake mistress laughed silently, "I think they are... I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right, whoever finishes fastest gets the poor sap in the middle?"

The red head smirked, "They ain't gonna know what fucking hit them." She pulled out a worn flute and began to softly play a melody, and in doing so cast a fairly low level genjutsu. One that made you sleepy, nothing major, just enough to drop your guard.

As one of the nuke-nins yawned, which was the moment Anko needed, she dropped from the tree branch she had been in and dashed forward. The target looked up at the incoming sound sleep dancing in his eyes before they snapped alert as he realized what was coming. About 10 seconds too late for him though as a poisoned kunai, courtesy of Anko quickly found itself buried in his gurgling throat. The other two nins quickly went into guarded positions, drawing their blades. One with shoulder length black hair sneered at Anko, "You bitch, you're gonna pay for that."

He crouched forward ready to dash at the Kuinouchi when a cry of "Katon: Divine Phoenix Lance." interrupted him. He looked over just in time to see and narrowly dodge a brilliant blue-white stream of fire erupt from the treeline around the camp. The nin swore as he rolled to avoid the stream of fire. His companion started to go through handsigns for a jutsu, but was cut off by a snake bite to the throat, well, multiple snake bites to the throat. Anko retracted her shadow snake hands and smirked at the swearing nin before them. "Looks like you're fucked pal."

He turned his attention to Anko and was about to growl something out when a plethora of shurikens found themselves imbedded in his arm. He screamed in pain and dropped to the ground clutching his shuriken ridden arm. He shot one last hateful glare at the still smirking kuinouchi before him before another Divine Phoenix Lance burst out and well, _lanced_ his head off at the neck.

Tayuya dropped to the ground with a grin. "10 Points for a head shot, bitch."

"Pfft, you got one guy after I got two. You still gotta work harder, brat." The dango lover smiled, "Now c'mon. Let's get back to Konoha."

-Around the time Tayuya and Anko left Konoha-

Jace sat and stared at his closet, attempting to will it to hand him a decent set of clothes. He sighed as the closet refused to give in to his psychic temptation and grabbed a simple black muscle shirt and blue jeans. Not the most ninja-y of clothing but it was what his mood dictated. As he pulled his shirt on he glanced down at the tattoos on his shoulders which were in fact, storage seals. His lip curled into a slight smile as he rubbed his right shoulder, memories of the weapon stored there, how he acquired it and the people involved flashing into his conscious thought. With closed eyes, he smiled... Then snapped a gloved hand summoning a large slurpee into existence, now he could afford to be content.

"_**The team has a test this morning. You're supposed to be there."**_ His inner tenant said softly to him. Well, as softly as a giant demon bird of fire can.

"_Yeah yeah. Since I doubt Hatake took my warning to heart, I figure I got a good... Oh, 15 minutes. Well fuck guess I should go eh?"_

"_**Thus the point of my reminder, moron."**_

"_Fuck you Feathers." _ Jace growled shaken form his inner dialogue. He paused, decided to go for a slightly different technique today and then disappeared in a swirl of electrified snow crystals. True to his timing he arrived just as Kakashi did. Needless to say the four gaped slightly as the Lilac haired man appeared in a dazzling display of ice and electricity. Well, Sakura stared at Sasuke, Sasuke and Kakashi stared at Jace and not his technique, Kiba... Had the decency to be suitably impressed.

Kakashi quickly snapped a picture before turning the Genins, "All right. This is gonna be one last test before you truly become a Genin. I'll hold one bell... Jace here will hold another." He glanced at Jace and tossed him a bell. The older man caught it, shrugged and attached it to his belt. "You have three hours to take these from us. Those who don't get sent back to the academy."

Sakura, predictably, harped on this, "But Sensei! There's only two bells!"

"...Good observational skills."

Sakura beamed a smile, her sarcasm detector apparently broken beyond repair due to fangirlism. _Yes! Me and Sasuke-kun all alone without that smelly.. Uh, not-Sasuke._ She thought to herself, drooling slightly as she did.

Jace and Kakashi sweat dropped. The Copy Nin shrugged it off, "Begin."

Sakura and Sasuke dashed into the bushes while Kiba patted Akamaru and looked at Jace. "Hah! You don't look so tough." He said with a mixture of confidence and arrogance. "I mean c'mon you have purple hair!"

Now, that had been a long running sore point of Jace's, being stereo typed because of his own natural hair color. He crossed his arms and shot Kiba his patented 'Murder Glare.' A look he and his dearly departed friend Dray had perfected, Dray moreso then Jace. Jace could radiate enough killing intent focused on whoever he was looking at to make even the most season of killers think twice before attack. Dray had actually managed to kill people with the look, something that had brought the man glee to no end. At any rate, Kiba and Akamaru wet themselves before stumbling backwards into the foliage. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, _Never insult his hair. Noted._

An hour later Sasuke came out at a dead run, Sakura not to far behind. At first glance this looked like something of a team effort... But it was just the Uchicha attempting to escape his psychotic fangirl. But it was almost like teamwork. Jace cocked his head to the side as he let the raven h aired boy dash past him. He reached out and snapped his wrist hitting the back of Sakura's head lightly, knocking her out.

Kiba groaned, he figured he was screwed, though watching Sasuke and Sakura gave him an idea. He motioned the other Genin over and whispered a plan to him. The Uchicha heir begrudgingly agreed and the two made a team effort to get a bell and save Sakura. They failed miserably of course, Kakashi going underground and pulling Sasuke with him, while Jace shot Kiba another glare. But hey, it's the effort that counted. The adults looked at each other and shrugged. "Well, despite your epic sucking, you guys pass. I suppose." announced Kakashi. He flipped another page in the small orange book he was holding and giggled. "Anyways, meet back here tomorrow to start on training." He disappeared in a swirl of leaves as he spoke.

Jace looked at the badly beaten and slightly burned Genin. "Well, you guys take care." He half waved with his free hand before shattering apart into ice shards and disappearing in a swirl of wind as well.

Kiba cocked his head to one side, saying, "Damn, I have GOT to learn that."

-With Jace-

Jace appeared in the middle of his apartment and quickly looked around. With a large happy sigh, he flopped unceremoniously onto the couch, "Tayuya's on a mission... The boys are with their team. All the kids are ninja and don't need me looking out for them... Why, I'm free!" He started to laugh out loud, "Freedom is mine! Wooohoooo!" He pumped a fist into the air, threw back his head and let out a long breath of air. "But... What to do? Hmm, Anko was fun to be with, but she'd be with Tayuya... Meh, now that the brats aren't around I could go practice with my bloodlines... Always easier to do without anyone to accidentally mind rape."

He closed his eyes and disappeared into a puddle at his feet, reappearing in one of the darkest areas of the Forest of Death. He opened his eyes to the pitch black and smiled. "Level 1... Active..." He whispered softly to noone in particular. His eyes shifted form the pale grey to a vivid emerald green, flecks of ebony shining in them. He opened and saw the world in perfect clarity. "Nice to see my perfect vision hasn't degraded. Fairly practical being able to see in the dark..." He glanced around the grove of trees he was in, taking in the various forms of wildlife that observed him, unsure of what he was doing here.

He looked around as some of the larger predators started to look more confident. He flashed a predatory grin, "All right then... Level 2 Illusions Master, Activate..." His eyes faded back to grey, the world going dark again, before appearing to explode into blood red, black bolts of lightning flashing in his iris'. He waved dismissively with hand a bright rainbow suddenly appearing, and a horde of illusionary rabbits swarmed into the underbrush. "Hmm, hard to practice dispelling illusions alone, but making them is always fun. Scares the crap out of some things..." He waved his other hand and a small army of snarling beasts appeared, scaring most of the wildlife away. "Hmmm, the level 3 demonic mind bridge really won't work for me. Besides I practice it enough when I speak to Shukaku and Kyuubi... Well I guess that leaves level 4."

He closed his eyes and started to hum, then dance slightly to his humming. If the carnivores around him had any real semblance of coherent thought, they would have noted to others that the dancing scared them far more then the illusions did. He snapped his eyes open again, revealing a brilliant softly glowing violet iris, with 4 pulsating silver rings in each eye. The world around him seemed to flare into life, letting him see the chakra of the world in a perfect 360 degree view. "Hmm, damn none of the critters here are cognitively advanced enough to mind fuck. Don't particularly feel like finding any either." He shrugged to himself before he deactivated his eyes. His shoulders slumped slightly at the chakra drain. Sure it didn't drain that much in use, but it exhausted you the minute you stopped using it. A potentially fatal flaw if one used it after a long chakra intensive fight. Something Jace learned the hard way on multiple occasions. He grimaced slightly as his headache abated somewhat, and continued on with some of his more practical training.

-Somewhere in Sound-

Orochimaru cackled to himself much in the way villains do. Suna had agreed to his plan, and the invasion was slated for the upcoming Chunin exams. The snake was tickled pink, much like position 47 in the scroll Mizuki brought to him, over the news. He had news form other possible allies as well. If his proposition to Kumo went over, Konoha would burn. He expressed these particular thoughts to Kimmaro, who was standing behind him.

The snow haired Kaguya nodded, a grim expression on his face, although he did have one minor concern. "Master... What of the reports of the White Phoenix residing in Konoha? How will that affect your plans?"

The Snake Sannin scoffed, "I have every possibility covered. And as for our esteemed bird friend... I have something very special planned for him and dear 'sensei.'"

The bone wielder nodded, as his master once again erupted into a fit of maniacal laughter.

...............................

A/N: Ok so I didn't get to the wave arc yet... And the chapter is a bit shorter then usual but i cant find a way to force it out much longer so meh. Little bit of foreshadowing though... MWAHAHHA ***cough pops an anti-evil-villain pill cough*** phew, all better now. Anyways pleaaase review! And wow, this story has more views then all my others.. combined... not saying much but hey, those of you reading, favoriting and story alerting.. you guys rock!

Fun Facts:

Jace wields 2 bloodlines. One is as follows:

Name: Storm Eyes (cant think of a fancier name, if someone can i'd be happy to hear an idea)

Type: doujutsu

Levels: 4

Abilities: Level 1 (perfect vision) offers enhanced vision, and perfect night vision. Being able to see through heavy mist and the darkest of caverns; Level 2 (Illusions Master) Can make low to mid level genjutsu with a wave of his hand, higher level genjutsu doesn't require as much chakra. Allows him to see through low and mid level genjutsu with relative ease; Level 3 (Demonic Mind Bridge) Allows the user to open a pathway to another persons mind. Any control goes to the person with higher willpower so it does come with some feedback risk, Very useful when dealing with Bijuu's as it allows them communication without danger of being released form their seals. Level 4 (Unnamed) Allows user to 'see' chakra, the way it moves, where it is, what kind, etc.. Gives perfect 360 degree vision. Has a similar function to the Mangeyoko Sharingans Tsukuyomi allowing the wielder to, as Jace so colorfully puts it, mind fuck an enemy. Far more damaging and permanent then the sharingan counterpart, as this does NOT require direct eye contact and merely being within the 360 sight leaves you open.

Looks: Level 1 turns the iris green, with flecks of black; Level 2 turns the iris red with circular rotating lightning bolts, Level 3 turns the iris blue with yellow lightning, level 4 the iris glow violet with pulsating silver rings.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: And were bringing you your next chapter of Children of the Fire... or is it just children of fire? Meh, too lazy to go check. Anywho... This chapter should be fun to write. Finally getting to the wave arc... God, I want to get to Chunin exams. I have sweet stuff planned... torturous to all characters involved but hey, writing is all about gleefully putting your characters into crap storms for the sole amusement of yourself and others. Or something like that... Anyways, please review! And enjoy. Preferably both.

Disclaimer: I would never want to be associated with Naruto canon right now... So no, I don't own it. If I did... I'd have rounded up my fav fanfic authors and it'd have a... what is it called... PLOT THAT DOESN'T SUCK!

**Chapter 6**

-Several weeks later-

Jace yawned audibly as he sat under a large shaded tree watching Team 7 chase after what he had decided had to be the most demonic zombie cat in history. The last time they had been after the hell creature, he had caught it, _snapped its neck_, and watched in slight horror as the bones realigned and the furry monstrosity hissed at him and jumped away. After talking to Naruto and Gaara they too had tried similar methods of dispatching the creature to be met with the same result.

Jace's mind soon drifted to other matters however, most notably the lovely and slightly unbalanced woman he had been spending his nights with, talking. (Yeah, just talking. You dirty minds can go away for now... You know who you are) Neither was willing to admit how much they enjoyed the other's company, as both had been royally screwed over in their early lives and had trust issues the size of Gamabunta. Jace was slightly better off than Anko as he had let his kids into his life, and he did have close friends before that as well. Sure, they had all died in various horrific manners, but hey, who doesn't have people like that? Oddly enough none of their deaths had anything to do with Jace, well aside from Dray... Jace shook his head clearing such thoughts and resumed thinking of Anko.

"Jace, c'mon, mission complete." The copy cat nin said as he made his presence known.

The phoenix holder sighed and got up, for once not holding a slurpee. "All right. We getting another mission after this?"

"Yeah... If I read our students right, they're at their breaking point. Probably gonna ask for a C rank."

"...You're a sadist you know that?" Jace said with a half smirk, "Not that I mind."

"You wouldn't. Not with as much time as you've been spending around Anko."

Jace raised an eyebrow at that. "How'd you-"

"Enhanced senses, I can smell her on you. Though from the strength you've just been around each other and not... Closer." He gave his patented eye smile to Jace who shrugged.

"Yeah. Who knows, it may change." He winked at Kakashi and laughed as he saw a small trickle of blood come from underneath the younger man's mask.

The silver haired jonin shook his head, "When or if you guys get there... and want a third party, let me know."

Jace laughed again. "Mayyybe."

"Tease. Anyways... So, are you gonna take up the Hokage's offer?"

Jace cracked his neck to the side before he answered a slightly thoughtful look on his face. "The one about becoming a registered Konoha nin? I doubt it... No offense to the Leaf or anything, but I have too many friendships in other hidden villages. And I refuse to break their trust. Nope... I'm neutral to the end... Well, there was one village, but that was a long time ago. And it ain't around anymore." A slightly distant look filled his grey eyes as he stared off into the distance. "Oh well. I do enjoy it here... But my allegiance has been to my friends first. A 'true' ninja must put his allegiance to his village first. Something I've been trying to beat into the Uchicha kid's head but he is NOT getting it."

"Ah well, what can you do?"

"Mass killings. Always worked for me in the past."

"I... I... Don't know how to respond to that." Kakashi said flatly.

They continued their small talk until catching up with their team at the Hokage tower. The first thing they noticed was Team 9's presence, also wanting a C rank mission. Jace waved happily at his adopted sons as he stood behind his more than vaguely whiny team. Sakura was fawning over the brooding Uchicha, Kiba was next to Naruto both of whom were demanding a C rank. Ino, who had gotten over her Sasuke addiction due to extreme intervention on Kurenai's part, was looking at the self proclaimed avenger as she thought, _Was I really as annoying as Sakura? Nah..._ Kurenai looked like she was about to, yet again, restrain the hyperactive blond male. And Gaara? Gaara was standing quiet as always as close to his Sensei as possible without it being a drastic invasion of personal space.

The elderly Hokage sighed at the barely restrained chaos before him. He looked down and flipped through a few files before settling on one. "Hmm, since both of your teams are here... You can go on a joint mission. This one here." He said handing the paper to Kakashi. "A bridge builder named Tazuna needs an escort to Wave and while he finishes construction, I can assume all here are up for it?"

At the mention of finally going on something more than a thrice damned D rank mission all the Genin in the room shut up immediately, and nodded in a somewhat vigorous manner. Naruto and Kiba more vigorously then others, Sasuke with a half nod because the stick in his ass restricted his spinal movement, and Gaara with a half nod cause he didn't want to seem immature in front of his crush. That and he never did anything with 'vigour'. Except hunt people who promoted breakfast cereal, and clowns for entirely unrelated reasons.

Jace mused silently to himself as the Hokage went on with the mission details. _Wave... Lessee haven't been in Wave for like... 18 years? No, we did go through it once 2 years back, but we only hit a small border town. Tazuna... Wonder if it's..._

His trail of thought was broken as an old, more than slightly drunk man holding a bottle of sake looked around the room incredulously and was about to give off a string of sour comments when he spotted Jace. He stopped and stared mouth slightly agape as he stared at the lilac haired man. "Jace?"

Jace looked the old man up and down with a smile. "Tazzy! It is you! I bet you haven't been sober once in the last 18 years."

Tazuna laughed, "Damn straight, I haven't been. Damn, boy, I barely recognized you."

"The hair right?"

"Yeah, I mean... From silver to purple is kinda a big step. You dye it?"

Jace waved dismissively, "Nah. It just changed color due to... Uncontrollable circumstances."

The bridge builder chuckled. "Nothing is normal with you, is it, Brat? Anyway, where's that giant you call a friend?"

Jace looked sullen for a moment, "He died... About 6-7 years ago."

"Oh, sorry, I knew how close you guys were." He said with a sad smile. He remembered the pair of teens quite fondly, and knowing one of them was gone was slightly harsh.

"Yeah well... That's how life goes sometimes ya know? I adopted kids though, if you can believe it."

Tazuna spat out his sake at that, "They let you around kids?"

Jace, Naruto and Gaara laughed, "Yeah man, they did. Two of them are here. Blond Whiskers, and Red." He said, gesturing at Naruto and Gaara.

Tazuna raised an eyebrow, "Well... If you were raised by him, then I guess I don't have anything to worry about, eh?"

Jace patted the man on the back, "Fuck no! Not with me around. So, " he paused and looked at the audience who had been staring at them, "When do we leave?"

-2 days later-

"I'm fucking happy to be on the road again.

Oh, so damn happy to be on the road again."

Jace was oh-so-merrily skipping ahead of the group singing. As he had been for the last 2 days... Straight. Needless to say some people were at their breaking points.

Ino, who was walking beside Naruto in the back, mercifully the farthest away from Jace, looked at her blond companion, "Your dad is.. "

"Touched in the head?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Naruto laughed at that. "You have no idea... But personally I can't blame him. According to him being in Konoha is the longest he's been in any one place." Which is almost true, it's the second longest, but that's a fascinating story for later... "He really does like to travel."

Ino nodded at that, "What about you? You don't seem so... Annoyingly exuberant about it."

"Exuber-what?"

"Means excited... Baka..." She said bopping him on the head lightly.

"Oh! Then no... I liked traveling with Dad... But I love Konoha." He said with a flash of his famous foxy grin. The blond girl blushed ever so slightly, not that Naruto noticed as his eyes were closed when he smiled. "I don't think Sis would mind if we were travelling though... She'll probably request some assignment like that when she's a jonin."

"Your sister... The red headed bitchy one I've seen with the crazy snake jonin?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Yeah her... But tell me, do _you_ think you should be calling someone bitchy?"

She glared at him for that, "I am not a bitch!"

"Yeah, you're right." She smiled at that, "You're a _super _bitch."

"BAKA!" He laughed as he dodged a quick punch to the region his face had been occupying.

"But hey, you're fun to be with because of that. I mean, you're not boring at all."

She huffed a bit, then smiled, "Well I suppose I can forgive you..." He smiled, then got a fist in the face, "...Now I can." They both laughed at that as she helped him up, neither noticing the two oddly conspicuous puddles behind them. Well, not until twin bolts of lightning came from the sky scorching the two small bodies of water, which shimmered into two extra crispy missing nins. Everyone had turned and stared at that, except for Jace, who just laughed.

"Ah, the beauty of delayed Raiton Jutsu... So, Tazzy... Any reason you may have ninja's after you?" He said with an oh-so-sweet smile.

Tazuna gulped, "Well, you see, there's this merchant named Gato and-"

"Say no more... I've heard about him. Hmm... Well, you helped me and Dray out way back when,... So how about I kill this guy for you? Sound like a deal?" Everyone stared at the nonchalant attitude of Jace.

"Jace, shouldn't we consider going back, I mean if he has enemy ninja, this is most definitely worthy of a higher rank..." Kurenai started.

Jace waved dismissively, "Nah, it'll be great practice for the brats. Besides, you guys can go back if you want... But I'll stay on. Though Tazzy, you owe them more money. I'll do it for free." He said with a predatory grin. He was dressed outside his usual manner, wearing a tight black muscle shirt, and black cargo pants. Throw in a black hooded cloak with a white phoenix rising from flames on the back and steel toed boots and you had his current attire. The grin made him that much more threatening.

They walked in silence for a bit longer before Kakashi decided to attempt to start a conversation, "Jace... Why do you wear steel toed boots? I mean... It's not exactly standard shinobi attire."

Jace shrugged, "I've never claimed to be a standard shinobi. But specifically... It's in remembrance of a very dear friend of mine who wore them. That, and have you ever been kicked by steel toes? I can attest to the fact it fucking hurts."

"..All right then... One more question, what's with the getup? I mean, I've never seen you dress like this." Hatake said.

"Hmm? Well, I plan on using the Bird's chakra, after all I don't rely on my... inner self's abilities like most in my position... But exercise and practice are needed if I don't want my skills to dull."

"That doesn't totally answer my question..."

"Oh, I guess not, eh? Well, nostalgia, I suppose. This is how I was dressed when I met Tazuna here," he said nodding at the elderly bridge builder, "Besides, I look badass in this cloak."

Kakashi nodded in approval. "I certainly won't deny it."

Jace laughed, "You wouldn't would you?"

-A day or so later-

The group was a few miles from town when an unnatural fog, or rather, mist rolled in. Everyone was immediately on alert... Yet still managed to get caught off guard as a massive zanbato hurtled through the air at them, Kakashi only managing to duck out of its way at the last second. Jace, Gaara and Naruto glanced at the sword, then each other and smiled. Jace made a quick motion with his hands silencing them before he bit his thumb and spread it on a seal on his shoulder before he faded into the mist himself.

"Well well well... Sharingan Kakashi, and the Genjutsu Mistress Kurenai... This should be fun..." A man seemingly appeared on top of the sword currently lodged in a tree. The two jonin, not noticing the disappearance of their comrade, tensed slightly. Kakashi spoke up, "Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Mist. Master of silent killing..."

Zabuza grinned, well, not that you could tell with the bandages and all, "Ah! My reputation precedes me. How wonderful... I'm here for the old man. Let him die and you all might just live."

Kurenai stepped forward this time, "He's under our protection. Kids, get into a-" She looked back and saw that Naruto, Gaara and Ino had dropped into a formation around Tazuna, while Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba just kind of looked stunned. "Well, my students don't have to be told what to do." Kurenai said with a half smirk.

"Not. The. Right. Time." Kakashi mumbled, glaring at his students to do the same.

Momchi shrugged, "I'll deal with you two myself... I have allies to kill the brats." As he spoke, ninja's with Ame forehead protectors stepped into view, twirling their weapons with sadistic expressions on their faces. Everyone tensed, not waiting to make the critical first move. Kakashi uncovered his sharingan, drew a kunai, crouched, and... Managed to cover his face in time as the tree Zabuza's sword was in seemingly exploded as an ivory white zanbato blade shattered through it. Zabuza swore as he grabbed his blade and back flipped, dropping into a battle stance.

"Hehe... You're getting rusty in your old age, Zabby." Jace said, emerging from the mist. His massive ivory colored blade resting on his cloaked shoulder. His hood was up shading his face, save for a pair of white glowing eyes. Tips of his hair showed from under the hood, a pale glowing white strand fluttering in front of his eyes.

Zabuza relaxed, then laughed, "Fuck, Jace! I nearly crapped my pants."

Jace laughed as well, "Heh, not my fault that you can't notice when people are quieter then you. By the way your 'backup' seems kind of afraid of me." He said shooting a fiery glance in the direction of the Ame nins. All of whom were visibly shaking.

"Well, can you blame them? I heard about what you did to Ame. I bet the survivors still have nightmares... And then you come up in that outfit and sword? How are they supposed to react?"

"Oh, how they are works fine for me..." He said still glaring at them. "..._**BOO!**_" He yelled with a demonic edge to his voice. The was the last straw for the other nins; they turned and booked it as far from the demon of their nightmares as they could get. Jace sighed and flipped back his hood, his glowing hair receding to its lilac color and his eyes dimming back to grey. "Fucking cowards. I mean, you burn one measly hidden village to the ground..."

Zabuza laughed as he made a hand sign, the mist dissipating into the wind. "Hey, is that a couple of your brats?"

Naruto and Gaara beamed, "Uncle Zabuza!" They yelled running up and hugging the man. "Hey, is Haku around?"

The supposed 'demon' smiled and ruffled their hair, "Yeah, she's around somewhere. Hey, HAKU! Get out here!"

The hunter clad ninja stepped out from behind Tazuna and tapped him on the shoulder, the old man nearly passing out as he felt the contact. "Right here, Zabuza-sama."

Jace groaned, "Oh my god, she still calls you that?"

"Hey, I tried, but I'm not gonna beat her out of it, am I?" He said motioning his adoptive daughter over.

Haku smiled and nodded at both boys before giving Jace a small hug, "Uncle Jace! Always good to see you." Jace smiled and mussed her hair slightly.

"So what brings you guys here?"

"Uh, to kill Tazuna." Zabuza said pointedly. "You?"

"Kill Gato, rob him blind." Jace said equally as pointedly.

"Well... Quite frankly I'm not even gonna try to get in your way..." Zabuza said somewhat sheepish at admitting weakness.

Jace grinned, "Ha! Good. Hate to have had robbed Haku of a father." He paused and scratched his chin. "Don't you get tired of the whole on the run thing?"

Zabuza shrugged, "What am I to do? Only scum hires me."

"Well, it just so happens Old Man Sarutobi owes me... How's sharing in my mental anguish and becoming leaf nin sound to you?"

Zabuza and Haku looked each other, then Jace, and back to each other. "Deal."

Kakashi, Kurenai, Team and Ino finally snapped out of their blank stares. "Wait you can't just offer Nuke-Nins-" Kakashi started to say, before he was cut off by a wagging finger of Jace's.

"Ah! But I can. The Hokage owes me. Big... And who wouldn't want the second strongest of the seven swordsmen? Besides, we'll just hang around until I can get conformation from the old man. Not like there aren't still enemies out there..." Jace grinned as he spoke. "Now grab the drunk and let's go. If I remember he lives in this direction..."

.....................................................

A/N: And there's chapter 6, start of the wave arc! A chapter that brings up a fascinating point... In this world there is no Ame. Jace destroyed it, it's how he earned the title of White Phoenix. More will be delved into that later on but it brings up one important point, Pein is dead. Akatsuki while there (as it's founded by Madara, the bastard prick) is quite different from the Canon one... Though again, much more on that later.

Fun bit of NaruIno action. Not alot but it's the start of something more. More on Jace's sword(s) next chapter as well...

Next time: The (probable) end of the wave arc

Fun Facts: None for you this time! Sorry.

Beta's Note: Come on now, that's not fair to our beloved readers. So I'll just introduce myself as this chapter's fun fact. I'm Kolor, the reason that the above is not plagued with 'teh's' and other glaring grammatical and spelling errors. You are all most welcome.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Yay for new chapters! I'd like to say yay for new reviews... but I got like... 1... but it beats none I suppose. And hey, lots of views... so at the very least I know people read it. I'd just like to know if people like it... or if they don't, why they don't like it...

Disclaimer: Ehh... Don't own Naruto...

Chapter 7

Naruto swore as he dropped to the ground, a senbon filled pin cushion. Gaara just smirked; right up until a large ice dragon bitch smacked him into the ground. "GOD DAMNIT HAKU." The vessel of Shukaku managed to growl out before the dark haired girl laughed.

"And here you two were bragging that you had caught up with me."

"How in all the levels of hell were we supposed to know you had an ice dragon?"

Haku shrugged as she dismissed the creature in question, "Your Dad is the one who gave me the contract."

"WHAT?!?" came the shrill reply from the two fallen Genin.

In the 'audience' Kakashi and Kurenai gaped and looked at Jace. "2 things..." The masked nin started, "THAT was a friendly spar?"

Jace took a long slurp and eye shrugged, "Yeah. I must admit it's good to see Zabby kept up with her training. Tay should be happy her rival is still strong."

"O... k... Umm, second, where the hell did you get a summoning contract for Ice dragons?"

"Actually it's Ice creatures in general. I think there's wolves and shit in it to. As to where, meh, I kind of collect original and unique summoning contracts. I personally haven't signed any aside to just meet to the bosses and ask if I could pass them on if I found someone worthy. Though I do have several personal summons."

"Personal summons?" Kurenai said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, like I can summon one creature from the contract that I'm friends with, and one of the others. I only use a couple though." Jace said, watching as the kids got up and went for round 4.

Kakashi and Jurenai glanced at each other, then turned back to their lilac haired companion, "Out of curiosity, what specifically?"

"Eh, well I won't tell you all of them... But I can summon a giant hell dragon. I call him Kyte. A pack of shadow hounds..." He paused going over a mental checklist.

Kakashi gaped at the Hell Dragon part. "I'm shocked... No phoenix's or birds."

Jace scoffed, "How cliché is that? A demon vessel summoning the species of demon he has... At any rate, I've been trying to decide what full contracts I want to give the boys. I've got one I think Gaara will like but still not sure about Naruto."

Kakashi and Kurenai shrugged, leaving Jace to his silent musing. A clearing over, Sasuke, Kiba and Ino were being put through the training from hell as they ran up and down trees, dodging kunai, shurikens and every so often Zabuza's sword. The bandaged trainer cackled in delight as he whipped another 5 kunai at the screaming banshee who had been ranting about how dare he try to harm her precious Sasuke-kun.

-An hour later near Tazuna's house-

Jace sighed as he dragged his two sons behind him. Both were exhausted, beaten down with several fractures. After all, Haku didn't have the stamina to keep going after awhile leaving Jace to 'spar' with them like he used to. "Ah, fun fun."

Zabuza, who, along with Kurenai and Kakashi, had the other genin being dragged behind him, said, "Damn Jace. I didn't know an arm could bend like that."

Jace glanced back at Naruto whose arm was heavily bandaged, "I don't think it's supposed to, no. What a wonderful discovery of learning!" He and Zabuza laughed while Kakashi and Kurenai sweat dropped. "Besides, he had it coming. He should know by now never to mock my hair care."

They paused in their conversation as they came up to Tazuna's home. Not really caring to knock, both Zabuza and Jace burst through the door and unceremoniously dumped their whining cargo onto the floor. Tsunami poked her head out from the kitchen and glared at Jace, "You know you should at least try to be polite when entering someone's home."

Jace waved dismissively as he summoned a slurpee, "Bah, that'll be the day. Ya know Tsu... What happened to sweet little 12 year old that would stalk me and Dray?"

Tsunami blushed slightly before disappearing back into the kitchen. Jace grinned as Zabuza chuckled at her reaction. "So, whatya figure, how long until Gato makes a move on the bridge?" Jace half yawned out as he dropped onto a couch.

"Hmm, I give him a week before those other missing nins regain any courage they might have had. I heard they've got another guy named Aoi... Something or other. Has a fancy sword."

Kakashi looked up from his book at that, "Aoi Rokusho? Stole the Raijin sword and fled the Leaf."

"Meh, it'll be dealt with. It's been a while since my blades tasted blood..." Jace gave a feral grin at the slightly pale look of Kurenai and Kakashi.

The dinner that followed was nice, punctuated by extreme emoness on Inari's part which tensed both Gaara and Jace up. Naruto exploded on the kid before storming off outside, his adoptive family following closely after that. But otherwise an enjoyable evening, the fish was done quite nicely.

Gaara found himself sitting at the top of a particularly tall tree staring at the moon, thinking about the family he left behind wondering what they were doing. Naruto sat on a riverbank staring out thinking about what life without the demon fox would be like, and about the parents he never knew. Jace... well he was venting on the town scum in the most violent ways imaginable.

-A week or so later-

Jace, Kakashi, Kurenai and their two teams were standing watch on the bridge while Zabuza and Haku watched over Tsunami and Inari. Gaara and Naruto were dressed in a tank top over top of a long sleeve mesh shirt and cargo pants, the difference being Gaara's shirt was black with a dark red Shukaku on the back, while Naruto's was navy with an orange Kyuubi on the back of his shirt. Jace was dressed in his White Phoenix gear, and everyone else dressed the same as the always do. I mean, c'mon. Do they have like 50 pairs of the same frikkin' outfit in their closet or something? As expected the group of Rain nins and Aoi showed up, ironically enough at high noon, "Wow, good time for a showdown eh?" Jace said. Everyone just kinda stared at him. "C'mon, it's high noon... Showdown... Ah, fuck it. Good humour is lost on you people." The eldest leaf associated fighter (phew, trying saying that 20 times fast...) just sighed as the ninjas started to pair off. Kakashi and Kurenai fighting Aoi, the 8 Ame nins fighting the 6 genins. Jace started, "Wait a fucking second, who the fuck do I get to fight?"

"If you're so eager to die, I believe I can aid you..." A short portly old man said. The figure, recognized as Gato was in the middle of a good 150 bandits and ex-samurai.

Jace smiled like a kid in an all-you-can-eat candy store, well, right up until you inform the child it's diabetic, "WOOHOOO, THERE IS A GOD." He grinned as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Naruto sighed as he ducked under a kunai and kicked out the leg of an Ame nin who Gaara's sand quickly consumed. The two brothers looked at other ignoring the sickening crunching sound from the sand covered body.. err.. make that corpse. "Shit, Dad's gonna go overboard."

Gaara half nodded as he withdrew his sand and threw several shurikans at the chunin level nin fighting off Sasuke and Kiba. "Indeed he is. However it is not currently our problem." He leaned back as his sand whacked an incoming Nin towards Naruto who expertly slit his throat with a drawn Kunai.

"Hmm, now it's 6 on 6. Even odds?" Naruto said with a grin.

Gaara gave a rare grin back. "Brother, with us around the odds were never even..." The two quickly ran towards Ino to give her a hand against the 2 shinobi she was attempting to hold off.

-With Kakashi and Co-

"Dammit!" Kakashi swore as he dodged to side, the lightning sword barely missing him. Kurenai was backing him up with various illusions which had been enough to throw the missing nin's aim off. But Kakashi, being the over confident bastard he is, still managing to fuck it up.

"Not doing so well, huh, Kakashi? Fool! With this blade only a god could hope to stand before me!" Aoi ranted as he considered his to futile attempts at bringing the copy nin down.

Kurenai wondered why the hell these two were thought so damn highly of.

-With Jace-

Jace grinned as he bit his thumb. "Kuchiyose no Jutso: Shadow Hound Pack Alpha." Ten glowing circles appeared to each side of a smirking Jace. As the red glow died down the 20 shadow hounds stepped out growling. They looked like a large wolf, only mist like in from, save for the white claws, teeth and glowing red eyes, "All right then, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, eh." Jace said drawing a blood red double edged katana. Instead of a normal grip, it was bound with a long black strip of cloth. (A/N: think the handle of Ichigo's Zangetsu) He giggled like a school girl as the swarm of shadow dogs ran into the crowd of mercenaries, rending flesh from bone before he followed them. Stabbing his katana into the top of one man's head, he twisted the blade, spinning himself in mid-air. As he started to fall he yanked it out, slashing another merc deep across the chest.

Gato was slightly panicked as the man before him gleefully and playfully slaughtered his men. The figure before him had yet to touch the ground after the initial jump, instead choosing to leap from body to body leaving a path of gory chaos behind him, drawing ever closer to the now sweating fat business man.

-With the Genin-

Gaara split from Naruto to go aid team 7 with the three nins they were fighting, while Naruto helped Ino defend Tazuna. "Look after the blond tart." He said to the two.

Naruto frowned as he bashed a nin in the skull. "Wait, are you talking about me or her?"

"Yes." Gaara called out over his shoulder, engaging the nin who was currently standing over a bleeding Sakura. Gaara used a rather unique style of Taijutsu, with tendrils of sand acting as extra limbs. He was pretty fast with it to considering the giant gourd of sand on his back.

Ino sighed as she dodged a pair of thrown kunai, whipping back a few of her own catching the offending nin in the leg. "You know, your brothers kind of a pain."

Naruto grunted as he twisted and slammed a kunai into the face of one the nins he was fighting. "You don't know the half of it." He looked up and saw one of the 2 remaining nins close behind Ino. "Shit Ino, MOVE!" He yelled as took a running jump and landed just in the path of the kunai. It buried itself into the blonde's shoulder. Naruto grunted, grabbed the wrist of his attacker and headbutted him. He gritted his teeth and yanked the kunai out of his arm. He glared at the shinobi before tossing it straight into the man's throat. A short gurgle and the masked ninja fell as dead as his companions.

Ino had finally managed to take down her own opponent just in time to see Naruto take the hit for her. "Naruto! Are you all right?" She asked as he slumped to his knees.

"Of course! Can't be killed here can I? What kinda future Hokage would I be?" He gave her a foxy grin. "Besides... Can't let one of my precious people get hurt when I can do something about it." He grinned at her again with closed eyes.

She smiled at him softly, "Baka..."

Twin cries of, "Desert Funeral." and "Raikiri!" signalled the end of other fights to the two blondes.

Kakashi stood his arm, finally, impaled through Aoi's chest, after he had taken several hits. Gaara and team 7 had cornered their opponents and Gaara finally got an answer as to if using Desert Funeral on multiple people with just the sand in his gourd works well enough. Which apparently it does.

Everyone turned their attention to where Jace and the mercenaries were. Sakura and Kiba threw up, Sasuke paled, as did Ino. Despite having seen similar sites in the past Gaara and Naruto still had to turn their heads away. Jace was standing amidst piles of dead bodies. Some chewed on and torn apart by the shadow hounds, others with main arteries and heads sliced open by Jace's katana. He wore a rather gleeful expression on his face, in his blood drenched clothes, standing in front of a very, very, VERY scared Gato.

"And then there were two! Well, well... looks like money can't buy you everything, eh, piggy wiggles?" Jace grinned, re-sealing his blade into the seal on his right arm.

"Anything... Anything you w-want j-j-ju-just let me live!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that... Though I promise some flair to your death!" He brought up his two hands, one covered in swirling flames, the other in slicing winds. "Lessee what happens when we mix!" He laughed and clapped his hands together... On either side of Gato's head. The resulting explosion of blood, skull and brain matter left Jace wishing he had closed his mouth first. "Ugh! Oh god! Note to self never do that again!" He turned away and coughed up pieces of.. You know what? You're better off not knowing how Jace found out Gato's eye color. As he finished... expunging the impurities... he turned and looked at 3 shadow hounds standing off to the side. "How'd I do?" They all whipped out a score card. Two 9's and a 5. "5? Are you kidding me! Look at that splatter. Oh, oh, it's because I threw up the pieces of him afterwards. Well, c'mon! That wasn't part of the actual kill shot... bah, stingy judge." The dogs smirked, as well as a partly corporeal dog can, then disappeared.

Back with the unfortunate audience to this show... Kakashi came very close to vomiting in his mask, Kurenai... Vomited on the bridge. Naruto and Gaara had the sense not to watch, and Naruto had oh so caringly covered Ino's eyes. As for team 7... They silently vowed never to piss that man off, and then they threw up again.

-One week and a damn good body removal crew later-

Tazuna and his family waved at the departing leaf nins (and one leaf associate). Tazuna looked down at his grandson, "So, what should we name it?"

"Hmm, Bloody Phoenix Pass?"

"Err... no."

"The Bridge of Vomit?"

"Try again."

"Bridge Over Crimson Waters?"

"Inventive... But no."

They walked back to their home, the conversation essentially continuing like that. They eventually settled on The Bride of Heroes, how sweet.

-A few days later in Konoha-

"Hey, fucking brats, how was the mission?" The loud red head asked her two brothers.

Naruto shrugged, "It was all right. Got Uncle Zabuza and Haku to come join the leaf, got some action. Got closer to Ino, and Dad killed a shit load of people."

Tayuya shrugged, "Usual, eh?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Gaara answered. He was a little miffed that he didn't manage to get any closer to Kurenai. But he was nothing if not patient.

Across town, in the Forest of Death, Jace sat talking to Anko. "...So then the little brat goes all boohooohooo, my Daddy died, and blah blah blah. Like he's had the worst life in the world."

"Ouch, whatya do to him?" Anko said as she chewed on a dango skewer.

"Nothing. Naruto blew up on the kid though. Then me, him, and Gaara stormed outta the house. Dunno where they went but I went to relieve stress the best way I know how."

"Oh?"

"Killed every murdering and rapist scum I could find. Considering how bad of shape that place was... I found a lot." The lilac haired fighter replied as he took a sip of his slurpee. He sighed as he stretched out on the tree branch they were on looking up into the foliage. "Got me thinking though. Remembering about my friends... You ever fall in love?"

Anko looked at him through the corner of her eye, "Kinda... Once... Why?"

"So did I.. Kinda... Once..." He half smiled at that, "Never let myself fall fully though. She was my best friends fiancé... But at the time we all first met I had no interest in that kinda thing. Until about... Oh, a month before she died, I was like, 'Hmm, I could love her.' But I had no intentions of acting on it... Then she died and it became a moot point on me."

"Ouch. Your friend, the one you always talk about?"

"Yeah... Dray. It killed him when she died. He was walking dead, waiting to finish what we had started. I'm fairly certain he could have survived the fight he died in. But he chose to die... I'm certain... It's why I can't blame him for leaving me alone. But outside of the kids, it kept me from forming any kind of relationship like that."

Anko nodded, ignoring the lone tear running down her companions face. "I had a thing for my sensei."

"The snake fucker?"

She laughed, "Yeah him. He abandoned me. Treated me like trash..." She paused at that unable to go on further.

"This seems callous... But good."

"Good?"

"Yeah... I mean without that, you'd be hung up on the prick... And I... Well..." He paused unsure of how to word the feelings he'd never felt before. "Anko..."

She turned and looked at him, "Yeah?"

"Don't die on me, eh?" He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Jace... Don't die on me either then."

"You drive a hard bargain. But it's worth it..." They looked at each other and laughed before shifting the topic onto other things. All in all, a pleasant evening indeed.

A/N: And thus ends chapter 7! Hope it wasn't to sickeningly mushy at the end. Romance isn't my general style (humour with occasional sinister twist is my norm) but I hope it worked. And that it wasn't rushed or anything.. I mean they've known each other for a few months now.

**BUT in more exciting news... Up next the Chunin exams! Whhheeeeee...**

Of which I'll probably skim through most of... or not... who knows?

Hmm, I have an idea for a slight crossover fic (to this one) with Bleach. And by slight I mean a few main characters mentioned that came from here... die... and that's essentially it. No, noone you really no... yet... MWAHAHA. (Cough) Oh, and would anyone read a prequel to this? Like Jace and Dray's early days right up to the beginning of this fic? Just curious...

**Fun Facts: Jace's swords**

Name: Funsai (Pulverization if this translator is to be believed)

Type: Zanbato

Color: Pure ivory white.

Dimensions: About a 5 foot long blade, a foot and half long handle, and a foot and half wide.

Seal Location: Jace's left shoulder.

Abilities: The blade can shatter into a couple hundred pieces that can be controlled by chakra. The 'shattering' leaves a single white katana blade. (Idea is from NWN and Bleach)

Maker: Jace made this blade himself as a teenager.

Name: Mugen Tsurugi (Infinity's Sword)

Type: Douple Edged katana

Color: Pure blood red, with black cloth.

Dimensions: 3 foot blade, foot long handle.

Seal Location: Jace's right shoulder.

Abilities: The sword is perfectly balanced for Jace as it was made for him. One of the best conduits of elemental chakra (more on that in the actual fic). Quality can stand up to the legendary blades like Kusanagi.

Maker: Kaberial Furion (Deceased)


	8. Chapter 8 Preview Chapter

This is just a preview of chapter 8, teh first thousand words or so. Mostly because I've been neglecting CoF for a while n(massize writers block past this one scene but meh) Hope this tides you guys over for a nother while. If you dont already, i encourage you to glance at my other 2 current stories. Until I come back with the finished chappy... enjoy!

**Chapter 8**

-A week later-

Jace awoke slowly as usual, and took no note of the head of purple hair beside him. He yawned as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and stalked out of the bedroom not noticing in the slightest that this was not his apartment. He located the bathroom, which he vaguely acknowledged had seemingly moved on him. His head was in horrible splitting pain, a pain he only remembered once. An event that had sworn him off drinking. Absentmindedly he wondered why it felt like he had a hangover as he stepped into the shower. His inner tenant was silently laughing at his hosts absent mindedness and prayed to be able to record the following moments.

Jace emerged from the shower after a good 15 minute long soak and wrapped a towel around himself. He was slightly more aware but the headache was still affecting his judgment For instance as to why he he had a towel with snakes and shurikens on it when he knew he owned none. No, his moment of awareness of his current location came when he stalked into the kitchen (wondering why it was a different color then he remembered) and searched in vain for a can of ravioli when he knew he had bought some the day before. "Well fucking hell..." He paused and looked around, "Wait a minute... I'm not home am I?"

Anko had woken up, much as Jace had, wondering who the hell was showering in her apartment. Although to her credit, it took her a total of 10 seconds to figure out who and why as she had a much higher tolerance to alcohol then Jace did. She grinned at the more interesting memories of last night. Jace was hilarious when he was drunk, and seemed to have no inhibitions whatsoever, pretty frisky to as she had found out first hand. To the credit of both of their self control undergarments had managed to stay on through the night. Anko had yet to decide if she was relieved or disappointed over that.

She did raise an eyebrow as she watched Jace look for food. She had never noticed the large tattoo on his back. It looked to be a massive chained bird, '_Probably a Phoenix'_ she mused, sealed in a circle. "Morning." She said as she snuck up behind him and whispered in his ear.

Jace froze, turned around slowly and looked at a grinning Anko, then slapped his face. "Fuck. Well... That explains a few things."

She laughed, "I imagine it does. Your a hilarious drunk you know that?"

"Awww man... What'd I do?" He said with a groan as he wandered into the living room.

She thought for a moment, recalling the events of the previous night. Kakashi had dragged Jace to the bar where most of the jounins met to celebrate the upcoming Chunnin exams which all the rookie teams had been nominated for. That and the sharingan wielder wanted to see what happened to Jace when he got drunk. "Well lesse... Kakashi dragged you to the bar but you weren't drinking anything but those slurpees of yours. So I spiked one of them. I must say, when you walked up to the in house band, and punched the singer in the face telling him he was doing it wrong. I was impressed, to say the least. You have a very nice voice." Jace blushed ever so slightly at that. He loved singing but would only do so in front of others if he was in an inebriated state. "The post song strip tease was my favorite part though."

Jace dropped his head, "Dammit. So... You took me here... I really hope we didn't do anything..."

Anko shrugged, "No we didn't. And yeah I figured if I left you with the Cyclops you would have been raped in your sleep or something."

Jace half grinned at that. "Thanks... Man... Glad we didn't do anything then."

Anko frowned at that. "Why would it be so bad with me?"

"huh? No I mean I kind of want to remember my first time." He froze as he said that last part.

Anko dropped her mouth a bit, "you to?" Both looked away from the other, a blush slightly present on their faces. "So... Whats with the big tattoo on your back?"

Jace raised an eyebrow, "I told you about my inner jackass did I not?"

She paused for a moment before slapping her forehead. "Right! You told me that a few weeks ago. So that's the seal huh? Doesn't look like a seal..." She mused thinking of the one she had once seen on Naruto.

Jace shrugged indifferently and resumed his search for sustenance. "Yeah the guy who made it was something of an artist as well. Though I hear it is the strongest seal you can use on a demon without invoking a God like Naruto's Shiki Fuujin. 8 chains for 8 wings. The fact it looks bad ass is just a bonus."

"Can't disagree with you there." Anko said grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard. She tried not to gape as he turned around to face her, the two sealing tattoos on his shoulders visible as long as a massive black and green winged dragon that started from over his heart, and coiled along the bottom half of his torso.

Jace followed her gaze and a sad smile formed on his face. "That... Is not a seal or anything like that. I was originally planning on something to cover a few nasty scars but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I settled on this a week after my best friend died. I was the phoenix he was the dragon. Ergo the tattoo." He said answering her unspoken question. The two enjoyed breakfast in a comfortable silence afterwards.


End file.
